Etrian Odyssey: The Hexer's Story (Paused)
by 823KE
Summary: (Co: HanaReiGirl.) Etria was a town well known for its labyrinth. Dubbed with a rather unimaginative name, the Labyrinth is what most explorers dream of solving, its mysteries and treasures a worthy golden pot of fame. Many has fallen, however, but one day, Remilia the Hexer appears out of nowhere to form a guild that will finally accomplish that. And yet... who exactly is she?
1. P1) The Beginning

"...and... we've reached our destination, missy."

She blinked twice. Focus slowly returned to her mind, and she pushed herself up on her legs, giving a small nod to person transporting her. The girl carefully stepped near the edge of the carriage, peering outside the small triangular opening of the covering fabric. Sure enough, she spotted a town brimming with people and other cheerful-looking things just behind the gate that separated them from the town itself.

"...thank you..."

The carriage's rider returned the nod. "No problem. That'll be 25en."

Tilting her head, she stared at the man confusedly. _En...?_ Then she recalled that the world's currency, Ental, was often shortened to just 'en'. Why everyone did that, she had no understanding of, but she'd rather not dwell over the smallest of things. Reaching into her dark grey cloak, she pulled out a pouch of the desired currency, which she had prepared beforehand. "...here."

"...right," the man said and looked inside. Then he looked back at the girl, then at the pouch. A grin formed. "Just about right. I'll be on my way then."

_...did I give too much?_ The girl didn't say anything and instead got off, then looked back at the hurriedly departing vehicle, curious. _How vile. It seems Father was right about people._ She began walking towards the town's gate. _They really are greedy. Rotten to the core. But I could've stopped that by saying something. Why didn't I? In fact..._

"Uh, lady?"

_In fact, I should've properly counted the 'en' instead of just handing over the entire pouch._

Suddenly, two spears were crossed together in front of her, blocking the path.

"You need to pay to enter Etria, if you're just a visitor," one guard said. "...unless you have some identification documents."

She blinked. _What? I wasn't told anything about this._ She searched inside her cloak with her hands. She's got nothing left now- no money, and no identification... 'documents'. "...don't have."

"Yeah, we didn't think you'd have any documents," another guard said. "What about money?"

The girl looked back at the carriage, which was- still in her sights- already smaller than her hands. "..."

"...day-light robbery, huh?" a guard commented.

_It's my bad for not checking, but that's not my problem now,_ the girl thought. "...please?"

"Uh... yeah, no. Sorry."

She frowned. _This is preposterous._ The girl looked around. "...pretty please?"

The guards exchanged glances. "...yeah, sure, go on ahead, lil' cutie."

_So I guess appealing to them_ works, she thought and nodded. She made to enter the town- but the spears crossed in front of her again. She blinked.

"Uh, no, that was sarcasm. We seriously need the money, miss- we don't do our jobs properly, we'd be dead," one of the guards explained. The other seemed to be trying to hold in laughter.

She narrowed her eyes. "...I'll... curse you."

"Curse?" the two said in unison. "...miss, are you an explorer?" one asked. She shook her head. "Well, are you looking to become an explorer?"

The girl thought for a while. She eventually nodded.

The second guard grinned. "Well, I'll be surprised, I have an idea. What say you sign up as an adventurer- which, by the way, will get you some identification documents by default- and pay us back later?" he suggested. "Everyone has to pay a toll, but if you don't have money, being an explorer will get you some money in the shortest amount of time. Fair deal?"

"..." She stared at them, who stared back with unease. "...okay."

"Yes! We're getting paid after all!" the two guards cheered. Clapping their hands together in a high-five that she didn't understand, they parted ways and let her through. "Good luck, little missy!"

She looked back and nodded, then walked through the town.

The town of Etria, or so it was known as. She briefly wondered if she should ask someone for directions, but a bigger dilemma plagued her mind- _little girl? Me?_ In her mind, she wondered if her appearance seemed that young. After all, she felt like she looked around the age of... say, a teen. An old teen, or young adult. _Maybe such kind of people are still considered young to people?_

Suddenly, she knocked into someone. "Ah... sorry..." she murmured and looked up.

A brown-haired woman looked down at her, then smiled. "Oh, don't worry. I wasn't looking properly, I'm sorry... little girl?"

She began feeling a bit irritated from being called that repeatedly. "...not little..." she whispered.

The woman giggled. "I see, I see. Are you lost?"

_Finally, not treating me like a little child anymore,_ the girl thought, unaware that she was very much still being treated like a lost child. "...gathering of... adventurers."

"Adventurers?" The brown-haired woman frowned. "Are you here to explore the labyrinth?" The girl nodded. "Dear Gods, that's... I see." She sighed, then solemnly pointed to a nearby building. "That's the Explorer's Guild. You can form your own guild there and become an adventurer and recruit other people and all that stuff... oh, but you'd still have to do a test given by the Radha... that's at Radha Hall." Sighing, the woman sluggishly walked away. "Everyone these days... so damn dangerous..."

The girl stared in her direction, before shrugging and walking towards the Explorer's Guild. From the conversation just now, it seems she'll have to go there first and then Radha Hall later. She also figured it'd be nice to gather some comrades to help her out.

* * *

"We're going to go by Axyl!"

"No, we'll be the Crusaders!"

"I said, Plus Minus!"

Thee heads glared at each other intensely, teeth gritted with fury. Their hands slammed at a table they stood around, making some wonder what it is the table did to deserve such harsh treatment.

"H-hey, come on, Valeria!" one girl, a red-haired youth who wielded a sword and a shield, cried as she tried to pull the other girl, a bright-brown-haired girl, from the argument. "Is the guild name really a big deal?"

"Of course it is!" the girl, Valeria, exclaimed. "I don't want to go around and be known as something embarrassing like 'The Crusaders'. That's something a kid would come up with!" she said, to the dismay of the other person in the argument who came up with the name. "And like, 'Plus Minus'? The heck? Stick to one!" she said to another person.

"Like you're any better!" a bot retorted. "What the heck does Axyl even mean!?"

The other boy growled. "It's like a made-up fantasy name straight out of a kid's mind too!"

Valeria gasped. "Excuse me!? Guild names should be mysterious and cool and unknown! It's not like we call the Yggdrasil Labyrinth something like, say, 'Big Tree Dungeon'!"

"That's the labyrinth, this is a different matter!" both boys shouted back.

The red-haired girl sighed. "You guys are so immature, geez!"

"You know what?" one of the boys said. "Forget this! We can't form a guild like this, with people who can't recognize a great name!"

The other boy scoffed. "Speak for yourself, loser!" he said, and the two walked away bickering with each other.

Valeria pulled her hair in frustration. "Fine! It's not like I wanted to form a guild of four Landsknechts anyways!" she yelled and was ignored. "Right, Scar!?"

Her friend frowned. "What I want to know is why you even considered a guild of four Landsknechts at all, in the first place."

"You moron, it's not the people that matters," Valeria said. "It's the results, Scarlet. The results."

"Well, you sure got great results..." Scarlet remarked, rolling her eyes.

Valeria sighed. "Yeah, no need to te... did you just roll your eyes at me?"

"No."

"...stupid."

"Who's the stupid jerk here!?" Scarlet screamed.

"Bwahaha! Ruuuun!" Valeria feigned a shriek and skipped away from the girl, who groaned as she wondered why she was even friends with the brunette. Meanwhile, another girl walked up to her. "Huh? Oh, Rin."

"Y-you two are as energetic as always, aren't you?" the girl, Rin, one of the currently free-for-hire Medics, asked. "Just like Mr. Leabo said!"

Scarlet grimaced. "That guy? What, was he doing his stupid 'predictions' again?" she asked.

Rin nodded. "Y-yes. No clients have come so far, s-so he's a bit... bored."

Her red-haired friend sighed. "He really needs better hobbies... someone should just put him in their team already," she said. "As much as I'd hate to admit, he's a damn good Medic."

"I- I know, right?" Rin said. "Mr. Leabo's, like, the exact kind of person I've always wanted to be!" She began flailing her arms wildly in excitement. "H-he treats everyone, from explorers to citizens to even innocent, harmless monsters sometimes! I, I've seen his gentle side so often that he might as well as be, like, the doctor of... of... of everything!"

"Getting a little bit excited there, huh, Rin?" Valeria snickered as she walked back to them. "And why didn't you chase me, Scarlet? Killjoy."

"I'll hit you," Scarlet muttered.

Suddenly, they heard the ringing of bells from afar. The door to their building must have been opened- someone must've came here to look for adventurers to hire. "S-someone's here!" the three chimed in unison. Along with them, everyone nearby quickly tiptoed to the huge space near the entrance of the Explorer's Guild, where the Guildmaster sat in his chair, reading a book, bored out of his mind. The man looked towards the door, where someone had quietly walked in.

"Oh? That's a new face," he remarked.

Everyone tensed. _A new adventurer in town!_ This collective thought quelled the fires within everyone's spirits, as their instincts all told them one thing-

_I need to make a great first impression._

Their mysterious traveler, the unknown girl wearing a dark grey hood with crimson red insides, looked around. "...hello..."

"Welcome, little missy, to the Explorer's Guild!" the Guildmaster suddenly exclaimed cheerfully. Everyone blinked. "This is the place where people come to form their own guilds, meet new people, prepare for their adventures, whatever pointless things you can think of!" He motioned to everyone standing behind him, grinning. "Currently, you've got plenty of options to choose from, but if you're ever interested in waiting, more people might come. Now..." He turned to the girl. "What might your name be?"

"...hm." The girl looked down, as if in deep thought, to the others' confusion. Then she looked up at the Guildmaster again. "...Remi...lia."

_You didn't need to think that hard about your own name,_ was the number one thought people had.

"...well, uh, that's fine and dandy. Now that I've told you the basics," the Guildmaster said before plopping down on his chair. He then brought his legs up on the table, crossing them together, displaying the exact opposite mannerisms of his prior cheerfulness- the aura of a lazy bum. "Guess I don't need to keep that cheerful facade up. Go look around, Remrem, do whatever. Get laid too, maybe."

...? Remilia tilted her head confusedly, but the Guildmaster had already lost interest. Not really understanding his deal, nor caring that much in the first place, she took a few steps forward to look around the place.

Eyes, everywhere, staring at her. Both sides couldn't stop their curiosities about each other.

Furthermore...

_I still can't think of my first impression debut plan!_ ...was the dilemma many were now facing.

Scarlet bit her lips. "Damn, she seems like a hard to deal with person..." she whispered under her breath. "What're we going to do, Val?"

...she looked besides her. The brunette Landsknecht was gone.

"V-Val? Valeria?" Scarlet looked around. Then she turned back to their latest guest Remilia, and spotted Valeria and Rin in front of her. "...what are those two doing!?"

Valeria grinned, her sword held to Rin's neck. "Mwahahaha! Your free choice ends here, dear guest!" she said.

"A-aaah, oh no! H-help me, brave adventurer!" Rin wailed.

"No, no, say you've been caught first," Valeria whispered.

Rin blinked. "O-oh, um, okay. A-aah, oh no! I- I've been caught..."

Valeria then grinned at Remilia again. "Now, if you want this cute girl, a total stranger, to live... you shall do as I say and add me to your team!" she said.

"That's just dirty!" Scarlet hissed.

"What do you say, dear guest!?" Valeria asked, her grin stretching wider.

Remilia stared.

"...you shall add me to your team!" the brunette repeated.

Remilia stared.

Her grin half-crumbled. "...u-uh, you shall... add me to your... team...?"

Still, Remilia stared.

Valeria gulped. "Tough one... o-okay, Rin, _now_ scream for help."

"Huh? O-oh, right. A-aahh, please help me... d-dear guest..." Rin said.

Remilia finally reacted- and that was by raising her finger. "...the sword. ...it's unsheathed."

Everyone blinked. Then Valeria frowned. "I... uh... I mean, this is still dangerous...?"

Rin looked up. "W-what do we do now, Valeria...?"

After few more seconds of an intense stare-down between Valeria and Remilia, the brunette dropped her sword and wheezed. She landed on her knees, looking down, before weakly looking up at the mysterious girl. "U... um... p-please... add me..."

"You're already groveling on your knees!?" Scarlet screamed. She quickly ran out from hiding to her brown-haired friend and grabbed her by the collar. "What the hell kind of skit were you even doing? Are you stupid!?"

"G-geez, Scarlet, we tried our best, you know?" Valeria said. "Gimme a break here, my acting skills were perfect! Rin here just wasn't serious enough..."

"W-whaaaat?" Rin voiced. "B-but I... I tried what I could do..."

"Uh, no, you did good, Rin," Scarlet quickly said before turning back to her friend. "But the whole skit was stupid in the first place! Now nobody knows how to impress this girl!"

"...excuse... me..." Remilia whispered.

The three turned their heads to her. _Oh, right, she's still here... of course she's here, what the heck._ Scarlet sighed. "I, uh... look, sorry. That jerk probably didn't explain things enough to you, so let me explain a bit more," she said. "As you know, this is the Explorer's Guild. People come here to form their guilds. All these people don't exactly live here, waiting to be hired, of course- we have our own lives too. We just come here in our damn lots of free time to find someone looking for new members." She scratched her head. "I'm going to assume you know about classes, so keep this in mind- many of the people here are most likely of the same classes as many others. For example, me and Valeria here are Landsknechts."

"Nice to meet ya!" Valeria chirped.

"And Rin here's a Medic."

"H-hello..."

Scarlet smiled. "There's plenty of other Landsknechts and Medics you can find in this town, who are also looking for people to recruit them. People who gather here just have nothing better to do, really." She paused to let the mysterious girl absorb all the information she just said- information that wasn't particularly important nor too hard to guess.

That's when Remilia raised an eyebrow at her, specifically her.

"...w-what?" Scarlet asked. "Is something wrong? Something on my face?" she asked. When she got no response, the girl frowned. "Wait, did you just think that I'm also one of those people with nothing better to do?"

"..." Remilia didn't respond to that, but the Landsknecht felt like she knew what the girl was thinking.

"D-don't be stupid, I have reasons to be here, okay!?" Scarlet exclaimed. "I just... it's really... it's really important, yeah!" she said.

"It is?" Valeria asked.

"Shut up, you goof!"

The two began bickering again, which didn't seem to bother Remilia too much. Rin stepped up to her. "U-um... Remi... right?"

"...Remilia," the girl corrected.

Rin smiled. "U-um, again... I'm Rin. N-nice to meet you, Remilia." She bowed her head to the girl in front of her. "I- I know this might not tell much about me, n-nor is it impressive at all, but... I-I'm a Medic in training, and I'd like to be added to your team! Please!" she exclaimed.

Valeria and Scarlet stopped fighting and quickly whipped their heads towards the orange-haired girl. _What!?_

_That pure-faced bitch!_ Valeria thought. _And I thought she was a goody-two-shoe... no, it was all part of her plan to deceive everyone!_ "Objection!" she screamed.

"Gah! Loud!" Scarlet hissed. Valeria took this chance to push the girl off her. "H-hey!"

"Dear guest, hold on! Don't add her yet!" the brunette exclaimed. "Wouldn't you want someone who can fight instead? Like me! Or, or, uh, or Scarlet! But I'm better anyways."

"Are not!" Scarlet yelled.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

The two began pushing each other again. Still, Remilia didn't seem too bothered by it- rather, she didn't even seem slightly fazed at all.

Rin chuckled, nervous. "W-well... sorry about those two, t-they usually get along better than this... Remilia?"

Remilia turned to the Guildmaster. "...hm."

The Guildmaster looked up from his book. "Hm?"

She pointed to Rin and the two bickering Landsknechts. "...I'll take them."

Everyone froze up soon after. "W-wait, what!?" Scarlet exclaimed.

Remilia turned around to nod at her. "I'll take... you three."


	2. Mortem - First Mission

"Hey. Heeeey. Heyyyy, leaaaader? Hey, hey! I know you can hear me! Heeeeey!"

Remilia continued walking without a single trace of annoyance, as she headed towards what seemed to be Radha Hall. Following her were three girls- Valeria the Landsknecht, Scarlet the Landsknecht, and Rin the Medic. Valeria was currently plaguing her with a ridiculously pointless question that, by all means, annoyed the other two girls somewhat, but didn't seem to even enter their recruiter's ears.

"Knock it off, Val..." Scarlet muttered. "Can't you tell she's annoyed?"

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Annoyed? More like, I don't think she can even hear me!" She turned back to the hooded girl. "Heeeey! Remirez! Remiremi! Remrem! Rimromramrum?"

"T-those aren't even..." Rin mumbled.

Remilia suddenly stopped walking and looked up as she stood in front of the entrance. "...this?"

Valeria blinked. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. This is Radha Hall. Not too impressive, huh?" she asked.

Rolling her eyes, Scarlet stepped forward. "Don't forget what you're here for, now..." she said. "The Guildmaster told you, right? To officially qualify as an explorer, you'll need to do a test mission issued by the Radha first. There's nothing to worry about though, it's usually just-"

"Forget that, I'm still asking an important question here!" Valeria interrupted. "Why didn't you go for the name 'Axyl? Or 'Deathclaw'? Or something cooler!?" the brunette asked. Remilia blinked. "I- I mean, 'Mortem'? Don't you think Mortem sounds kinda stupid? What the heck is Mortem?"

Rin scratched her head. "I-if I recall... it's 'death' in one of the ancient forgotten language... L... Latin?"

Remilia blinked. "..." _I thought it sounded pretty nice..._ she replied in her head.

"...huh." Valeria scratched her head. "I guess that's kinda cool... a bit."

"Guess you're not the only weirdo," Scarlet muttered.

"Excuse me!?"

Watching the two bicker was something she already became used to. With that, Remilia turned around and headed into Radha Hall.

The others soon followed after her, with two of the girls still being loud and disruptive.

Inside, they were greeted by an orange-haired man with glasses. "Greetings. Welcome to Radha Hall, center of Etria's government."

"Hi," most of the girls greeted.

The man noticed Remilia and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I see a new face. Are you new in Etria?" The girl nodded. "I see. You girls are perhaps a newly formed guild, I'm assuming?"

"Yep!" Valeria interjected. "We're the Mortem Guild!"

"M-Mortem?" the man repeated. He seemed to know the meaning as well. "Well... I guess everyone's entitled to their own naming desires." Chuckling, he readjusted his glasses. "My name is Quinn. I'm the subaltern in charge, and you'll be receiving your test... from me."

"Oooh, cool!" Valeria said. "Hurry and tell us, pal! I can't wait to finally kick some asses!"

"Hush, Valeria! You're being rude!" Scarlet hissed.

Quinn merely chuckled more, however. "No, no, it is alright. I like that energetic behavior, it's quite admirable." He pulled out some sheets of paper from his bag. "Let's see... are you well aware of the importance of mapping?" he asked.

The group of girls blinked.

He smiled. "Mapping the layouts of a dungeon floor helps us explorers know what to expect, especially for those who can finally venture deep into the labyrinth without the restrictions for safety." He handed the papers over to Remilia, who noticed they were blank map sheets. "Your duty is to map the first floor of the labyrinth. Are you girls up to it?"

"Hell yeah we are!" Valeria shouted.

"W-we are?" Rin asked.

"Well, it doesn't sound too difficult," Scarlet said. "Right?"

"...I, I guess?"

_...it's just mapping,_ the red-head thought. _How hard can it be?_

Remilia took the papers and stuffed it inside her cloak... somewhere. "...thanks."

"It's no problem. Now," Quinn pointed outside, "you can't miss the labyrinth, so I probably won't need to give directions. Within the first floor's entrance, there should be a guard stationed there to refresh you on instructions and provide more details if necessary. That should be all."

"...understood." Remilia turned around. "...going now."

* * *

"So, uh... Remilia." The girl turned her head to the red-haired companion, who almost flinched from her slow mannerisms. "I, uh, wanted to ask. You're... a Hexer, right?"

"...mm," she voiced and nodded.

Valeria stared. "Oh, so _that's_ why you look so creepy and depressing."

"..."

Scarlet sighed. "You're being rude again..."

Rin blinked. "U-um, sorry about her, Remilia... I- I don't think you're that scary though!" she said. "So, um... don't take it personally...?"

"...mm." _Not like I really care._

They continued walking past the gates containing the labyrinth's entrance, an awkward silence surrounding their new leader.

_She's quite the odd one..._ Scarlet mused. _But at least she doesn't seem too... out of the world._ She then glanced at her brown-haired friend, who was humming random tunes as she stomped forward energetically. _Meanwhile, she's just too carefree about this..._

"O-oh, look... I think that's the soldier that Mr. Quinn mentioned..." Rin pointed.

The group noticed a soldier standing just a short distance in front of them. He caught their eyes and waved. "You girls are the next ones, hm? Figures."

"Alright, pops. Tell us what to do," Valeria said.

"Weren't you listening to Mr. Quinn at all?" Scarlet asked. "We were given blank sheets, we need to map down the first floor's layouts, and then hand it back to him. There's pretty much nothing else."

"Exactly as the girl says," the soldier replies. "Are you the leader of your guild?"

"Eh... no, it's this girl," Scarlet said and pointed to Remilia. "She's... new to Etria, apparently."

The guard looked at the Hexer closely. "Hmm... I see. It's nice to meet you." He stepped aside for them. "Should you wish to start on your task... feel free to start anytime."

"Roger that!" Valeria shouted. "C'mon, I say we go straight forward!" she said and pulled Scarlet by the arm.

"H-hey, wait, Val!" Scarlet suddenly said. "Don't go too fast! Remember we have to map the floor!"

The brunette Landsknecht tilted her head. "Oh, is that so? Who's in charge of that, then?"

Remilia took out a sheet of paper. "...I'll map." She also took out a fancy pen given by the subaltern. Without any extra words, she began jotting down the structure of the area they were in, walking forward with short intervals of looking up to avoid walking into anything.

"...she's not so talkative, is she?" Valeria whispered.

"Yeah, unlike someone..." Scarlet muttered.

"You're mean."

Rin frowned. "W-wait, we'll lose her!" The orange-haired girl quickly sped her pace, catching up with her new leader. "Umm... s-shouldn't we take it slowly? T-there are monsters everywhere, after all..."

Remilia looked at Rin, her face void of emotion. "...need to finish. Fast."

"I... I see..."

Valeria suddenly grinned. "Hey, then why don't we split up?" she suggested, to which the others looked at her with confused expressions. "I mean, we could cover more grounds, and after meeting up again... you know. It's like putting two puzzle pieces together!"

_When did you ever play with puzzle pieces?_ Scarlet wondered. "I mean... sure, that sounds fine, but we've literally just started. It'll be pretty dangerous."

"Oh, who cares?" Valeria laughed. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I mean, our buddy's a Hexer! She could just curse things to death, couldn't she?"

"Ugh, I knew you didn't do any research." Sighing, the red-head walked to her friend. "Listen, a Hexer doesn't kill using curses like those childish stories you hear. They use curses to weaken their opponents, to help others take the enemy down faster and easier."

"...what's the difference?"

Rin sighed. "I- I don't think she'll get it anytime soon..."

"Well, not like it matters!" Valeria quickly plucked four blades of grass from the ground. "Let's each pick from this, and the two shortest grass form a pair, then!"

"Now you're just being half-assed..." Scarlt muttered.

Remilia, who spent more time looking around and drawing the map whilst listening to her party members, nodded and picked one. "...hm."

"Y-you're fine with this?" Rin asked. The Hexer nodded, putting her at ease. "Then... I, I guess I'll go next." She pulled hers.

"Alrighty, Scar! You're the last one!" Valeria said and turned to her friend.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Whatever." She hesitantly pulled hers.

Valeria than opened her hand to see the last blade of grass "Hm. Let's all compare sizes then." Everyone formed a circle and showed their respective blade of grass.

Scarlet blinked. "O-oh..." she grimaced, noticing hers and Remilia's were the shortest. "I... suppose I'll go with you, then."

"Mm."

_...really silent and_ eerie. The girl turned to her other friends. "Rin, keep that idiot from doing anything stupid, okay?" she asked. "I'm slightly worried about your group, after all..." _And I want to be in your place, damn it._

Rin nodded and smiled. "D-don't worry! I'm sure we'll be fine!" She turned around to talk to her temporary partner, but found the girl already rushing off. "...ah."

"...here," Remilia whispered and handed her a sheet of paper and the pen she was using. "To map."

"Oh... thanks, Remilia." Accepting what she was given, Rin quickly bowed and ran after the brown-haired Landsknecht, waving to the remaining two.

They stood together in silence, watching as the other girls disappeared from their sights.

"...sooooo... uh. What now?" Scarlet asked.

Remilia shrugged and turned around. Holding her partly-drawn portion of the floor's map, she continued on her way. "...keep going."

"I... I see." The Landsknecht followed her leader in awkward silence, mentally racking up a list of proper conversation starters. However, there was nothing she could think of that seemed alright. That was it- she knew nothing about her leader. _Hmm... it would do well to get to know her, since we'll be a guild together now._ "S-so, uh, Remilia."

The Hexer's head raised a bit, but she didn't even stop mapping the floor down, nor did she even turned around. "Mm?"

Scarlet scratched her cheek. "What, uh... what town did you come from?" she asked. "It's... not so often we get people travelling from faraway places to Etria just to explore the labyrinth, so you must be from a nearby town or village." She waited a few seconds before frowning. "W-well, I mean, if it's not too personal to touch on or anything... is it?"

"...mmhm." With that response, Remilia... went back to doing what she had already been doing.

_...you didn't answer my question!_ Scarlet wanted to scream, but she held it in. "...w-well, that's fine too, I guess. Then..." _What else could I ask? How about..._ "H-how about your hobbies?" she asked. "Surely you must, um, have something you enjoy doing in your free time?"

"...mm." Again, Remilia doesn't bat an eye to her.

"..." Scarlet sighed. _Maybe I should reconsider her team..._ she thought. _But Valeria's..._ Suddenly, some nearby bushes rustled. Scarlet whipped her head around instantly, reaching for her sword. "M-monsters already!?"

A number of humanoid creatures jumped out from the bushes, their claws sharpened and ready to kill. They lashed out towards the duo, who quickly stepped back and prepared for combat.

"S-stay behind me!" Scarlet exclaimed. "I...I'll handle this!"

"...I can..." the Hexer whispered, but the rest faded immediately as one of the mole-like creatures aimed at the red-head.

The Landsknecht swung her sword forward with a loud yell. Metal with claws clanged against one another, pushing both sides back. "I-it's strong...!"

Remilia stepped sideways. "...hrm!" Exerting a small amount of force, she lifted her arm and seemed to attempt to do something to do creatures. Barely a second of confusion passed by for the warrior before her opponents suddenly started screaming. "...Madness Curse..." Remilia said, as if anwer what she had been wondering in her mind.

Scarlet quickly looked back at the monsters, who all began screeching loudly and flailing around, attacking one another. Two unfortunately caught her in their radius and jumped towards her, claws ready once more. "N-not this time!" The Landsknecht jumped back from where she had been standing, then rushed forward to slash the monsters that were now standing where she was. The sword swiftly sliced through their the head of one of them, causing it to immediately fall down, whilst it continued to slice of the arm of the other creature. It let out a loud hiss and quickly regained its focus, glaring at her before retreating into the bushes.

Meanwhile, the other crazy-turned monsters were just about finishing up their panic battles, with only one of the mole monsters remaining amongst the groups of dead non-human bodies. It slowly turned to the two, blood staining its body. Letting out yet another screech, it rushed towards them again.

"...hmn!" Remilia exerted herself again and cursed the opponent once more. It quickly landed on the grass, taking a few drowsy steps before falling unconscious in front of them. Remilia turned to Scarlet and nodded. "...kill now."

"...o-oh. Right." The red-haired Landsknecht returned the nod and tiptoed over to the fallen creature. She raised her sword and struck down on it, jumping a bit when blood splashed at her legs. "...e-ew..."

Her new Hexer friend put a hand on her shoulder. "...fine?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, um... I'm fine, I'm fine." She let out a sigh of relief as her hands stopped trembling. "It's just... this was quite new for me. I've... not actually ever participated in any real battles yet, same with Valeria..."

"...mm."

She grimaced. _Again with the uninterested responses..._ Turning back to her friend, she saw Remilia already continuing the mapping process. She sighed, wondering if joining up with her was really the right choice. "Well, let's get back to work, I guess..." she said to no one in particular.

The two continued walking around aimlessly.

"...I like... singing," Remilia suddenly said. Her voice was extremely meek, but it still didn't go by unheard.

"..." Scarlet blinked. _...oh, that._ She then smiled. "That's really nice," she remarked with energy. _What the hell, so she's actually kinda normal..._

* * *

"Come on, there's nothing to be scared of!" Valeria said as she dodged a couple of monsters resembling rats and butterflies. "What's the worse that could happen?"

Rin yelped in surprise and jumped sideways as another rat monster tried to bite into her. "P-people don't normally pick up dirty boots lying in the forest anyways!" she replied in a hurry. Another one rushed towards her, attempting to ram into her. The girl held her wooden staff to her chest, to which the rat pushed into- and by way of forces, she was in turn pushed down and her staff dropped. "N-no!"

The mouse readied to attack again, when a sword sliced its head off within seconds, effectively ending its rampage.

"Wow, you aren't good at this," Valeria commented. Then a last butterfly creature flew up to her head, but she quickly turned around and sliced it in half. "Wooo! Got 'em all!"

"H-how are you so nonchalant about this...?" Rin whined. She pushed herself up and grabbed her staff. "This is so d-dangerous... on many levels..."

"Oh, you're just being a sissy," the Landsknecht replied. "Jot down the map and let's go! We've got plenty more places to check out!"

Sighing, the orange-haired Medic pulled the other piece of paper she got and began drawing the structure of the path they were in. After her friend's impatient jogging, they started moving along the area.

"But wow... it's a lot weirder than I imagine," Valeria said.

Rin raised her head. "W... what is?"

The brunette looked around. "I mean, I know this is a forest, but... this place seems so... artificial," she said. "And, like... these monsters are like animals. But so... different."

_She's getting all deep again..._ Rin thought. "W-well, I mean... yeah. That's... part of the mystery that everyone wants to find out."

"True, true." Valeria smiled and stood tall, enjoying a slight breeze. "And I wanna know it all!"

"Um... r-right." Rin didn't slow down in her mapping at all. "...say, will it be okay to leave the bodies of the monsters...?" she asked.

The brunette turned around. "Hm?"

"I-isn't kind of... you know... not good for the environment to leave them around...?"

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it!" Valeria said. "I heard from some people before that the corpses of monsters, well... they sorta disappear eventually," she said. "Like, literally, one guild was camping around an area where they had just killed a bunch of monsters, and suddenly, their bodies, like... dissolved into dust or something."

Rin frowned. "...that sounds a bit crazy. Maybe they actually... b-burnt it to ashes?" she suggested.

"Hm... no, I don't think so." A few seconds later, Valeria remembered something. "Oh, I think they also said it's a bit troubling if you forget to harvest good materials from the monsters."

"...h-harvest... materials?" Rin asked. _Oh, I think I remember Mr. Leabo saying some Medica potions can be made with monster materials..._ "...wait, does that mean..."

Valeria glanced at the various mice and butterfly bodies lying around. "Yep. We're going to get them all before they disappear!"

Rin gulped. "...I-I'll be doing the map... how about you do that?"

"Eh, sure. Don't get all sad about missing the fun after-party then."

_Everything's fun for her, huh..._ the Medic thought as she looked away from the sight of her comrade plunging her knife into the corpses. The sound generated by the fleshy meat wasn't something she could block out though, especially when her hands were busy drawing the map. She mentally winced as more disgusting noises were heard.

"Yuck, look at all these blood and mouse... mice... rodent guts."

_P-please don't describe_ that... Rin wanted to say.

Valeria snickered. "Man, I bet Scarlet's having fun with our leader right now," she mused. "All this scavenging is amazing."

* * *

"...you know, I just realized something," Scarlet said. "We haven't... actually collected any valuable materials from the monsters that we've killed. Like, at all."

Remilia shrugged. "...not important..." she said.

The Landsknecht raised an eyebrow. "No, no, it's actually really important. Selling those things help us get more fame, and it also helps the town prosper and make more new stuff, and it might even help us get to meet the Chieftain of Radha faster! Do you _know_ what an honor it'd be to rise that quickly and meet the Chieftain?"

She then noticed the Hexer's hands stopped. "...Chieftain?"

"Oh, you don't know him?" The redhead chuckled. "Chieftain Visil's the man keeping everything in this town together. He's governed over Etria his entire life, supposedly, and he's well-respected by everyone!" She looked away, a small smile forming. "Even I... even someone like me... I'd really love to meet him."

"..." Remilia got up. She turned around and started backtracking her steps,

"...u-um, Remilia?" Scarlet voiced. "We already mapped down those places... w-we just came from there..."

"...materials," Remilia said. "...let's get."

The Landsknecht's eyes widened, before she smiled. "Of course!" she said and quickly rushed besides her leader. "Well, it'll get a bit dirty, so I'll do it. You can keep guard and tell me if anymore monsters are coming. But hey, this is a bit surprising."

"...mm?" The Hexer tilted her head, confused. "What... is?"

Scarlet grinned. "You've only just came here, but you already want to meet the chieftain, right?" she asked. "I mean, I understand perfectly. He's got this... aura around him- no, not just him, anything that mentions him, that he's a very reliable and kind man. Doesn't it just make you want to earn his praise?"

Remilia looked down. "...I..." She remained quiet for a moment, before looking up again. "I have to... meet Visil. At... at all costs."

"Hmmm... then let's get our guild stronger and more well-known, eh?" Scarlet said with a cheerful smile. Remilia nodded, expression unchanging, but she let it slide as she spotted some of the corpses and headed over to it.

True to her duty, Remilia stood close by and looked around for any monsters. "...hm." _Getting ambushed now would be troublesome..._

"...hm. That's funny." Scarlet wiped a trickle of sweat away. "I could've sworn we killed way more monsters than this..." she said.

The Hexer turned slightly. "...monster bodies disappear. ...eventually."

"Oh, is that so?" Scarlet asked and did another body count. They really were, as implied, less than she remembered slaying. "...well, I guess I should hurry and harvest from these, then."

Reaching her dagger into the mouth of a dead rat monster, she sliced hard enough to remove some tooth. Then she began cutting the hide off the body. Glancing back, she smiled nervously. "Hey, um... do you have a pouch or anything inside your, uh, cloak?"

"..." Remilia shook her head, but winced a bit as she realized their next dilemma- where to store the materials? More importantly, who's going to carry the icky, slimy, raw flesh of rat and mole corpses?

"Oh... oh well, then." Scarlet looked back at the body and scratched her head. "Hmm... I guess we could just ask that soldier for a pouch later. If he has any." She sighed. "I'll carry it for now, I suppose... ew."

The Hexer mentally sighed with relief as she watched her team member move onto slicing the snouts off of the butterfly corpses.


	3. How Pleasant

"Oh, look!" Valeria cheered and waved as she spotted Scarlet and Remilia in the distant. "Guess there's no more new places to find in here!"

Rin frowned. "Really? But we found a passage under a huge tree leading down somewhere..."

"Map the first floor, not the whole world, dummy."

_...well, she's right,_ Rin thought. _...wait, she actually knows the mission?_

Valeria snickered and pulled Rin by the hand, calling out to her other teammates. "Hey, Scar! Scarley! Scarscar!"

"Lords, can you stick to one name?" the redhead eventually said as the two got closer. "And stop shouting, jeez! Monsters are going to be attracted to us!"

"Yeah, right. When does that ever happen?" Valeria said.

Rin sighed. "Literally every encounter we had..."

"That's a lie, and you can't prove it otherwise!" the brunette retorted.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "The amount of monster blood on your garments already tell me enough." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "They're not even splatters anymore, it's almost like a terrible painting job on your armor."

"Don't ridicule the hard efforts of painters," Valeria replied. "It's not an important job here in Etria, but still!"

"You're the one being rude to them."

Rin, meanwhile, went to Remilia. "Um, thanks for the pen and paper. Should we put the map together now?" she asked.

The Hexer nodded. "...sure."

"O-okay then!" The Medic got down on her knees and pulled her paper out. "H, here's our portion of the map. It might not, um, be too neat but... please make do with it." She then took a peak at Remilia's paper and frowned. "...um, Remilia?"

"...hn?" Remilia turned slightly and stared at her.

"Oh, um, sorry... M-Miss Remilia?"

_...I didn't tell her to call me that._ "...what?" she asked. _Whatever._

Rin pointed to the girl's paper. "Why is the ink, um... red? And a bit... blotty?"

"...oh." Remilia raised one of her fingers to show the girl a prick near the tip. "...gave you the pen. So."

"...y-you used your own blood to draw the map!?" Rin exclaimed. The two bickering Landsknechts stopped and raised an eyebrow, turning to the two.

"She did _what!?_" Scarlet said. "I didn't even noticed, what the heck?"

Valeria frowned. "It's just a little bit of blood, I'm sure it's not all that bad."

Rin narrowed her eyes. "No, that is not good! Mr. Leabo wouldn't ever support this!"

_That quack doctor with nothing better to do?_ Scarlet quickly pushed that notion away and stared at her leader. "Are you alright, Remilia?"

The Hexer shrugged. "...not that bad."

"Well, I mean, sure, but..."

"Cure!" Rin said as she exerted magic through her hands. A calming aura emanated from her and surrounded the Hexer's finger, to which the wound slowly closed up until the point of being invisible. "Geez, don't make such decisions stupidly! What if you caught some unknown diseases?" the girl said.

For the first time, Remilia seemed quite perplexed. She looked away. "S... sorry."

_Wow, cornered Remilia._ Scarlet blinked. "But wow, Rin sure can be straightforward when it comes to health, huh?"

"Huh? I..." the Medic said before realizing how pushy she must have sounded. She turned slightly red and glared at the red-haired Landsknecht with an adorable pout. "I- I was just... g-geez, Scarlet!"

But Valeria raised an eyebrow. "...more like, is it really worth using healing magic to cure something as small as that?" she asked. "I mean, a small prick like that would go away in a few minutes anyways. No need to spend energy on that."

"Don't be stupid, Valeria!" Rin suddenly shouted. "Like I said, we don't know if there are any deadly diseases that could easily spread in these mysterious dungeons! The labyrinth is still quite unknown to everyone!"

Valeria blinked. "Whoa, okay, I get it... chill, girl."

"Yup. Really passionate," Scarlet remarked, smiling.

"N-no, I... Not again, geez!"

As the Medic and redhead Landsknecht now exchanged teases and retorts, Remilia found herself looking at her healed finger. _It really is a waste though,_ she thought. Slowly, she looked in Rin's direction. "...thanks..." she whispered.

"Hm? Did you say something?" Valeria asked as she watched her friends banter around.

"...nothing."

* * *

After they copied Remilia's map onto Rin's map- with no blood- they took it to the soldier stationed within the forest and got the approval to explore the labyrinth further. However, it'd obviously be unwise to keep going right away, as they were getting a bit tired from monster slaying, and the only means of recovery they had was Rin and a nearby stream of cool water that didn't reinvigorate them too much.

So they returned to Etria for now. After all, the best next option is obviously-

"Let's sell our loots and find new weapons to buy!" Valeria exclaimed.

"Uh, at least give the map to the subaltern first," Scarlet said.

The brunette frowned. "Ugh, but why? We can do that later."

"D-don't be like that," Rin said. "It seems they give out 500en to everyone who, um, finishes the test."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "Pft. I know that. The heck are you going to do with money though?"

Scarlet and Rin exchanged glances. "...to buy weapons, like you wanted to?"

"...oh! Yeah, that. Right! I knew that." Laughing cheekily, she earned odd (unamused) stares from her comrades before turning around and attempting to whistle nonchalantly.

Remilia, meanwhile, took out the map as they walked through Radha Hall's entrance, and headed towards the direction of the subaltern.

He noticed her guild and smiled and waved. "I see you've returned. How was your first journey into the labyrinth?" Quinn asked. "I hope it's not too challenging. The monsters there are rather weak, so it shouldn't have been a problem."

"Oh, no, it was fine." Valeria pulled out a piece of rat skin from... somewhere. "Look at all these good materials we got! Neat, huh?"

"O-oh, I see." Quinn temporarily held his breath as a foul odor faded into the hall. "That's... nice. And, the map?" Remilia handed over the partly finished map to the man. He examined it for a few seconds, before smiling. "Your guild have done a great job, Mortem. I think I can call this a success on your part."

"Really!?" Valeria said.

Nodding, the glassed man handed the map back to the Hexer. "Here, you should keep this for future explorations. As for the rewards for completely your first mission... I'd like to award you with 500en." He handed her a pouch of coins, to which she quietly accepted and hung somewhere within her cloak. "Also, here's a letter of approval from Radha. Take it to Shilleka's store, she'll be able to provide you with all that she can sell with no restrictions."

"Oh, sweet!" Valeria exclaimed.

"You've been nothing but loud the entire time," Scarlet muttered. "Thanks, Mr. Quinn. We really appreciate this."

Quinn chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about it. Every new guild goes through this and receives this. You're all now officially explorers suitable to delve deeper into the labyrinth."

"T-that's amazing!" Rin exclaimed. "We... we did it, everyone! We're now official explorers!"

Her group smiled as they felt similar levels of joy and accomplishment.

Remilia accepted the letter and nodded. "...thanks."

"Hey, let's quickly go sell all this stuff and buy some stuff!" Valeria exclaimed. "I can't wait to become the very best!"

Scarlet snickered. "The monsters we killed are really basic ones that anyone can finish off too, though."

"Let a girl dream, why don't'cha?" With that, the brunette quickly rushed off towards a store that most of them recognized. "Come on, hurry up! Slowpokes!"

"Geez, someone's excited like a child." Rin chuckled at Scarlet's comment and followed along. In a few seconds, they pushed the door to the store open. "Hello?" Scarlet called out.

"Yeah? Welcome t'Shilleka's Goods, be t'ere in a minute!" a voice replied.

"It's me, Scarlet! Take your time!" the redhead replied.

A few shuffling sounds and a crash, then a few seconds later, someone walked through a room deeper in the store. "Oh, Scarlet! Nice t'see ya again. Here t'buy new stuff?"

"I'm here with Valeria and Rin. We just became a guild!" the Landsknecht explained. "Meet our leader, Remilia!" she said, lightly petting the Hexer's shoulder.

"...hi."

Shilleka beamed. "My, a new face in town! Hi, sweetie. See t'is place here? My store. Everyt'in' in here? My store!" She proudly put a hand to her chest. "I own and sell all t'greatest t'ings in Etria! You want t'best weapons? Aaaaall from me!"

"That's one hell of a repetitive boasting," Valeria remarked.

"You want boastin'? I've got it all!" Shilleka added with a hefty laugh. "Anyways, what're you girls lookin' for?"

Scarlet raised her other arm, where she was holding a stack of monster materials. "Well, first we'd like to sell all these. Our hands aren't exactly free right now."

'Oooh, good materials. I'll gladly take it all!" the weapon store owner declared. "On t'at note, nice t'at ya girls have gotten used to t'stench."

"Huh? Stench?" Valeria asked. "What stench?" She turned to see Remilia wincing, Scarlet half-heartedly chuckling, and Rin nodding. "Huuuh?"

Scarlet scratched her head. "Well, I've kinda vowed to get used to all troublesome things if I ever got recruited to a guild... I'm actually not used to it yet, but it's not too bad."

Rin then raised her hand. "Mr. Leabo often researched monster materials, and I used to help him out a lot! S, so I'm used to it now."

Valeria blinked. "...I seriously have no idea what stench you girls are talking about."

"Your sense of smell is just terrible, that's why," Scarlet said.

Shilleka chuckled. "Well, r'gardless, I'd say your guild's good t'go t'en." She took the materials from Scarlet and Valeria and placed them somewhere behind the counter. "I'll buy t'em all off of ya. Some materials prob'ly ain't as good as others, but t'is what I get that matters! Here, le'see..." She dug around the counter and pulled an empty pouch out, then started putting coins in it. "Hmm... four sheets o' Tree Rat skin, six Tree Rat fangs, six Woodfly snouts, t'ree Woodfly scales, two Clawed Mole bones, an' a Claw Beetle whisker. T'at should be... 135en."

"What now?" Valeria asked. "Were those the names of the monsters?"

"Yah. If you're int'rested in keepin' tabs on t'em, Radha provides free copies o' detailed pages on discovered monsters near t'e labyrinth entrance," Shilleka said. "You can go grab a free copy of each entry anytime. A Radha scholar'll make more copies if it ever gets close t'runnin' out. T'is helpful for many explorers t'know what they'll go up against," she said. "Anyways... here's t'e money."

Remilia nodded and took the pouch of coins, and hung it somewhere under her cloak once more. "Mm."

"Not so chatty, are we?" The blacksmith laughed. "Well, whatever. Anymore materials t'sell?"

"Uh, no, I think that's it," Scarlet said.

"Ya sure?" Shilleka rubbed her chin. "Any intriguin' plants or wood or stuff're also valuable materials too, just sayin' in case."

Rin perked her head. "O-oh, then I guess I've collected a bit more in my bag," she said and pulled some more materials out. Unlike the ones her friends had gathered, these were not fleshy and thus didn't gross anyone out. "Umm, will these do?"

Shilleka smiled and took them off her hands. "Hmm... one Twining Ivy, one Hardwood, an' one Pyroxene. 110en in total, I'd say."

"Wow, she's good at calculations," Valeria remarked.

"No, it's really not that hard," Scarlet said. "You just don't bother trying."

"Rude."

Shilleka laughed. "Nice t'see you girls get along as always."

"I-is that so?" Scarlet replied, flushing slightly. "Can't help it, I guess, haha. A-after all, who's better than me to taking care of this d-dummy?"

"Teehee. Whatever ya say, sweetie." Shilleka handed Rin a pouch of coins for her non-monster materials, then picked up all the loots she was given. "I'll take all of t'is to t'back. Judgin' by you're recent start, I'd recommend checkin' out t'hat area o'er t'ere," she said and pointed them to a corner in the wide store. "Basic, affordable stuff, I tell ya."

"Alright, thanks Shilleka," Scarlet said. "Come on, girls. Let's check out some decent equipment."

"Gotcha!" Valeria quickly rushed over to a shelf in the corner, examining the goods up and down and left and right. "Oooh, these swords look really powerful."

"Not powerful enough, I guess?" Scarlet said and pointed to price tags attached to them. "Wakizashi... 220en. What a weird-shaped sword. So these are katanas..."

Rin noticed a staff sitting on a nearby area of the shelf. "O-oh! This is the exact same as mine!"

Remilia noticed it as well, and, bringing her right arm out, she looked at the dagger she held. "...hm."

"Oh, you use a dagger?" Scarlet asked. "...is that how you pricked your own finger? Geez, reckless." The girl looked at the column with various staffs. "Hm. I'm not sure how it goes with you, but I read somewhere that Hexers don't have as much access to their arms as other people, since..." She droned off and looked back at her leader.

More specifically, she felt a bit uneasy around the red chains wrapped around Remilia's shoulders, especially the golden bell and some sort of round talisman or something on her chest. "...what?" Remilia asked.

"Nah, nothing. It's just... hm, wouldn't it be better for Hexers to not be distracted by weapons, after all?"

"Hey, even if their hands have restrictions," Valeria said, "she could still use a staff for many other things. Like, uh, you know... walking staff? Like old people do?"

Scarlet sighed. "She should be the same age as us, you idiot." Turning back to Remilia, she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, if you want to buy a staff, I won't stop you. You're the leader of Mortem, after all."

Remilia blinked, then looked back at the staff. "..."

Rin suddenly jumped besides her. "I- I think staffs are amazing weapons, Miss Remilia! So, like... t-this is just my personal view, but I think you should get one."

"...Miss?" Scarlet questioned.

Remilia looked at her. "...didn't tell her... to call me that."

"O-oh, sorry," Rin said. "I... I thought you, uh, didn't like it if I... casually called your name."

"...didn't say that."

"O-okay..." Rin scratched her head. "...well, um... Remilia?"

The Hexer stared at her again, before- to everyone's surprise- a small smile grew onto her face. "...I'll get this."

Rin returned the smile with a much bigger smile, excitement creeping up her body. "R-really?"

"Holy shit, the boss just smiled!" Valeria screamed. Her party members all turned to stare at her.

"...read the mood, jeez," Scarlet said.

"I... I didn't..." Remilia quickly muttered and looked away.

"Well, you get whatever you want, boss," Valeria said. "I think I'll get this sword... Baselard, huh?"

Scarlet frowned. "Why're you calling her 'boss' now? And hey, wait, I had my eye on that!"

The brunette laughed. "Chill, Shilleka's got more of them here," she said and pointed below. The redhead saw that, indeed, there was another Baselard underneath where the first one was. "Let's both get this, then."

"M-matching weapons?" the other Landsknecht said. She gave it a few seconds of thought before shyly nodding. "R... right..."

"Pft. Matching weapons. You make it sound so romantic," Valeria joked.

"S-shut up."

Rin beamed as she skipped over to another shelf. "Well, now that we've selected the weapons we wanted... how about, um, armor and equipment?"

Valeria nodded. "Right, I almost forgot. What good stuff's in store?" she asked.

The Medic looked around. "Umm... most of them are quite expensive..." she said. "B-but there are cheap gauntlets and shields here."

"Targe... huh?" Scarlet said. "I actually think I'd like that. As a Landsknecht, I'm a bit used to shields." She sighed and recalled some memories. "More like, the training I've done with others have drilled that stuff into me."

"Practicing with other Landsknechts?" Valeria said. "How come I've never heard of that?"

"I invited you a few times but you always said it was boring!" Sighing, the red-haired girl looked at the shield once more. "I think I'll take one of these, and... hm, I'll take the Hide Glove too, I guess. Seems cheap enough."

Valeria pouted. "Hey, no fair! I want them too, then!"

"Why are you competing with me?"

Rin smiled. "I don't think I'll buy any for now, there might not be any entals left to spend." She turned to Remilia. "How about you, Mi... um, Remilia?"

"...I'll pass," the Hexer said.

"A bit risky, but if you girls think so," Scarlet said. "Shilleka! We've decided on what we want to buy!"

"Is t'at so? Hol' on t'ere!" the blacksmith's voice replied from somewhere within the place. A few more crashes later, a door siid open and she hopped out. "Okay, I'm 'ere now! What'll it be, girls?"

_I'm more worried for what those noises were all about,_ Scarlet thought. "Well, let's see... a wooden Staff, two Baselard swords, two Targe shields, and two Hide Gloves."

"Gauntlets," Valeria said.

"They're called Hide Gloves, deal with it."

Shilleka smiled. "Oooh, great choices for beginnin' guilds! T'at's my girls, got good eyes, eh?" She counted the products on the counter and did some mental calculation. "Hmm... 460en... no, 520en. Got enough?" the tan girl asked.

Remilia, Rin and Scarlet looked inside their respective pouches of coins and exchanged glances.

"I got 600en," Scarlet said.

"I-I have 940en," Rin said.

"...500en," Remilia said.

The three stared at each other, before nodding in some sort of agreement.

"So... who's paying for all that?" Valeria asked

"Uh, why're you assuming only one person's paying?" Scarlet asked as she and the others poured some coins into their hands. "And why're you the only one not contributing here?"

"Oh, I left mine in my room," the brunette said before laughing cheekily.

Scarlet rolled her eyes before looking at her hand. "Okay, so-"

"I, I think I'll pay for Remilia's staff," Rin said. "I did... um, recommend it to her, after all," she explained with a chuckle.

"That's 50en for you then," Shilleka said. The Medic gave her the correct amount of coins.

Remilia blinked. "..." _She didn't need to do that._ The girl then looked at Scarlet.

"...you don't need to pay for me or Valeria, you know?" the Landsknecht said.

But it seemed like the Hexer felt a bit useless, as she was- to her surprise- pouting a bit. "...no. I'll pay... for shields."

"Eh, you don't really have to..."

"The Targe shields are 50en each, so 100en in total," Shilleka said. Remilia handed over a number of coins to the girl, who smiled. "You got y'selves a kind guild leader, eh?"

Feeling a bit troubled for a few seconds, Scarlet sighed in resignation and smiled to the gloomy girl. "Well, guess I gotta thank you for that, Remilia." She then payed 300en to Shilleka. "The Baselard swords are 300en in total, right?"

"Yup." Shilleka then pointed to the Hide Gloves. "Don't forget th'se. Both 60en each, sweetie."

"Oh." She noticed Remilia staring, when the Hexer looked into her pouch again. "No, no, I'll handle this too, Remilia. Here, 120en," Scarlet said and handed over the amount as well.

The blacksmith laughed. "You girls are just adorable to watch," she said. "But all done! T'anks for the business, t'is all yours!"

"Oooh, sweet!" Valeria said and quickly equipped her Targe shield and Hide Gloves. She grabbed her Baselard sword and looked at it admirably. "This thing looks cool! I'll return my rental sword now, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, sweetie."

As Valeria and Scarlet did the same, giving their prior swords to the blacksmith, Remilia tilted her head. "...rental?"

"Oh, yeah." Scarlet pointed to the old swords. "Shilleka here also provides free rental weapons to beginner explorers and younger people who want practice before becoming of legal age," she said. "They're not exactly the best of weapons, but it's helpful for training with others, I suppose."

Shilleka grinned. "All part of me job t'help t'e young' ones grow stronger!"

"...I see."

"But anyways, no need to pay for everything," Scarlet informed her leader as the group headed for the door. "I mean, you're new to Etria, aren't you? I figured we could show you around town and let you experience some great stuff with your money, rather than waste it all paying for us," she said.

"Oh, oh, good idea!" Valeria said. "Are we gonna go to the pub? I wanna meet Valerie!"

Remilia raised an eyebrow, extremely confused by what she had just heard. "...?"

Scarlet chuckled. "Good idea. Let's look around town for now, and head to the pub first, alright?" she said

"...okay..."

It would take away her remaining half of the day, but when night came, Remilia had eventually found herself enjoying the day's events.

She supposed the life of an explorer in Etria wasn't so bad.


	4. The Skill Tree Consciousness

"Alright, so if you want to quickly meet Chieftain Visil, the first goal is to become well-known explorers with huge feats. And that means doing lots of requests!" Scarlet said. "It's better to start from the easy ones, so I've already accepted some simple ones from Miss Valerie, at the Golden Deer Pub. What say we look over these?"

"...?" Remilia tilted her head. "What...?"

Scarlet smiled. "Don't play dumb, I know you really need to meet with the Chieftain for some reason," she said. "Yesterday we all went to the pub together, remember? Although we shouldn't have drunk alcoholic beverages, _someone_ thought it'd be funny..." With that, the girl glared at Valeria besides her.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," she said. "Better question is, what does having huge feet have to do with meeting him?"

"...I'm not even going to comment on that."

Remilia tugged on the redhead's arm. "...I don't..."

"No, no, it's really fine. I also really want to meet the Chieftain in person!" Scarlet reassured. "I think I might totally understand how you feel, so let's work together, Remilia!"

"..." The Hexer seemed a bit peeved, but then she looked down. "...did I say... anything else..."

Scarlet blinked. "Um... all I recall is that you have to meet him no matter the cost, and that someone wouldn't be pleased with you at all if you couldn't do that?"

She wasn't sure if Remilia's face had turned pale, since the girl's skin was already quite pale to begin with, but the girl suddenly glared at her ominously.

"W-whoa, don't worry! You didn't mention any names nor elaborate further!" Scarlet quickly added. Seeing her leader sigh with relief, she did the same. "I won't pry into your life, I guess."

"What's the big deal?" Valeria asked. "Nothing wrong with wanting a sugar daddy. And where the heck's Rin?"

"O-okay, first of all, that's a completely wrong idea, and that's just wrong," Scarlet muttered with disbelief at her friend. "Secondly, she said she'd visit Leabo first before coming back to the inn."

"That quack doctor with nothing better to do?" Valeria said. Her friend nodded. "Huh, figures. What does she even see in that guy?"

"It's more admiration then what you're probably thinking of, but I'd certainly ask the same thing."

Remilia raised her hand. "...umm."

"O-oh, right. Quests from the townspeople." Scarlet cleared her throat and read one of four sheets of paper that she had received from Valerie- a brown-haired women who's older, taller and saner than Valeria- when she woke up early to go to the Golden Deer Pub. "So first, a local artisan wants some beast hide... around three should do, from either the mice or the moles."

"Ooh, more looting from monsters!" Valeria cheered.

"Yep. Next..." Scarlet picked up a second sheet. "A store somewhere is in need of Hardwood. ...that's literally it."

"...simple," Remilia said.

Nodding, the Landsknecht moved on. "Now... an old, retired adventurere says he wants to taste Holy Water again. It's apparently in the southeast area of the floor, so I think it's that refreshing river we rested at for a while. Lastly..." Scarlet blinked twice. "Oh, it's a personal quest from the manager of this inn. Guess we'll have to go get the details from him."

Just as she finished talking, their door opened and Rin walked into the room. "S-sorry I'm a bit late... I, uh, remembered the free pages on monsters they offered to explorers and w-went to get some." She waved several sheets of paper in her hand. "Should I not have gotten them...?"

"No, good thinking," Scarlet praised. "I almost forgot about that. Keep it in your bag for now, we'll need them later. Our current priority is to go explore, but first we'll hear the inn manager's personal request from the man himself. Let's go!"

"Alright, second boss!" Valeria exclaimed.

"Hey now, that's rude."

Remilia noticed Scarlet signal an apology to her, but she shrugged. _Again, it __doesn't really bother me..._ she thought and followed after the Landsknecht.

Rin quickly followed them afterwards.

* * *

"...so in the end, it's all errands," Valeria muttered.

"Now, now, we're just beginners," Scarlet said. "Any monsters that would give people enough trouble to make a quest would be on a much larger scale of danger than what we can handle. This is good enough to raise our guild's name."

The brunette pouted. "But I want to slay strong monsters!"

"Yeah, well, better live than die."

Rin scratched her head and turned to Remilia. "T-they sure get along well."

The Hexer nodded.

"Haha...ha." She quickly turned away, feeling awkward. _It's so hard to strike up a conversation with her..._

"Say, Remilia," Scarlet said. "I'm just asking in case, but do you know about Skill Trees?"

Remilia tilted her head confusedly again, unsure of what the girl had said.

Valeria seemed to recognize it though, and so did Rin. "Oooh, those! You're going to explain those to her?"

"Sure, it's quite helpful." Scarlet smiled. "You see, it's a mysterious thing nobody can explain yet, but after certain points, you sort of unlock certain abilities that you can use to become stronger explorers."

"You'll need some sort of points to be able to do such things, though," Valeria added.

The Hexer blinked. "...what...?"

Rin sighed. "W-well, uh, let me start simple." She rubbed her chin. "If, if I had to put it simply... when you, um, start meditating and get lost in it, skills and abilities sort of... just come to you, and you'll be able to... choose them?"

Their leader showed no signs of comprehension at all.

"You guys suck at explaining," Valeria said.

"You're no better," Scarlet muttered.

Rin chuckled. "Well, I... I think these things need to be experienced."

Their casual stroll was interrupted when several Tree Rats jumped out of nearby bushes, hissing at them with their teeth ready to kill.

"Oh, boy. We're being attacked." Scarlet sighed, before coming up with an idea. "Say, Remilia, why don't you try meditating right now?" she suggested. "Things shouldn't be too bad here, they're just Tree Rats. We'll keep them away from you, so why don't you give it a try?"

"...but..." Remilia began, but a Tree Rat screeched as it jumped at her. It was quickly slashed into two by Valeria, however, who flashed her a thumb.

"It'll be fine, boss girl!" the brunette said. "You might learn something new and amazing!"

"Mis... Remilia, please trust us," Rin said as she prepared her staff. "We'll... we'll keep you safe, p-promise!"

She stared at them, wide-eyed, before sighing. "...okay." The Hexer sat down with her legs crossed, and closed her eyes.

_Focus._ She calmed her breathing rate, slowly blocking off the noise of combat around her.

Slowly, the volume actually started fading away.

Then the small light that partly illuminated the insides of her eyelids also faded to black.

After a while, her inside vision became flashing balls of light- nothing out of the ordinary.

But then, random alphabets began appearing. All sorts of symbols and letters warped around her mental vision, before a certain phrase planted itself on the center of her mind.

**'Curse Mastery'**

_What is_ this? Remilia thought, slightly confused as to what was happening inside her head. However, she didn't know how she knew, but she felt as if she could put something into this random but specific floating text in her mind. Suddenly, two balls of light in her mental vision flew into the words, and her inside view flashed brightly- without the brightness pain, to her relief.

She then suddenly felt something new. The Hexer wasn't sure what it was, but slowly, her mouth opened as energy gathered in her hands.

Her eyes darted opened and she scowled, aiming her hand- as much as she can raise, with her hands still bound by red chains- at a mole monster that jumped out of the ground in front of her.

"Oh no!" Scarlet said, quickly turning around. However...

"Hmn!" Remilia exerted the energy in her hands towards the mole creature, and just as it was about a step away from her, vines exploded out of thin air and wrapped its arms tightly behind its back. It screeched in confusion, tripping amidst its shock and fell to the ground, flat on its face.

"W...wow," Scarlet said and sighed. "What a relief... that was close. I see you're already done?"

Remilia, still not exactly sure what that ethereal experience was, didn't respond for a few seconds. She eventually noticed the girl staring, then nodded. "...that was..."

"Was it a new skill?" Valeria asked.

The Hexer again took a few seconds to eventually nod. "...Abdomen Curse." The name had automatically come to her lips. Remilia realized now that this Skill Tree phenomenon was something that- albeit she didn't understand it at all- could help her become stronger as an explorer, and thus meaning it'd be useful for what she had to do. "...Skill Tree..."

Scarlet grinned. "Yep! That's pretty much all you needed to experience to know it!" With that said, the matter was over and she quickly jumped to the next concern. "How's the material extraction going, Rin?"

Rin, her staff on the ground, was holding a dagger in one hand and a dead Tree Rat in another. "I-it really does feel... disgusting..." she wailed.

"It's not so bad if you don't mind the mushy mushy feel!" Valeria said.

"B... but I do mind..."

Scarlet sat next to the Medic. "I'll help out. We'll need three strips of hide for a leathersmith, and... three fangs for the inn manager."

"What, um, what did the inn manager need the fangs for again?" Rin asked.

"Uh, I think he said it was good fertilizer for growing crops and stuff," her friend replied.

"I didn't even know that," Valeria added.

"I don't think any of us knew that. Did you, Remilia?"

Remilia shook her head. _I thought they were just ferocious, overgrown rats._

"Anyways, what else do we need?" Valeria asked.

Scarlet peered inside her bag. She reached for some paper, but her hands were already wet with rat blood, so she blinked twice before looking up at Remilia. "Um, Remilia, can you get the quest sheets out of my bag? MY hands are a bit..."

"...mn." The Hexer walked over to her and pulled the sheets out, reading them. "..one Hardwood... and Holy Water..."

"Hardwood should be easy," Rin said. "There's two spots in this forest where special materials grow or gather somehow. We can, um, go to one of those."

"And Holy Water's from that nice cool river, right?" Valeria asked. "Alright! This will be a piece of cake!"

She began jogging in place excitedly, waiting impatiently whilst Scarlet and Rin were gathering some more monster materials. Several rat fangs harvested later, the bodies slowly evaporated into dust to be swept away by the breeze. They piled the materials together and stuffed them in an extra bag that the pub's Valerie had given to them, free of charge, for the purpose of storing such monster loot.

"Alright," Scarlet said. "I think we should be ready now."

"Finally, you girls take forever!" Valeria said.

"Yeah, because we're doing our jobs properly."

Rin smiled. "The river was... to the east of here, right?"

Remiia nodded with the map in her hand. "East... southeast."

"It's just right around the corner then, let's get going!" the brown-haired Landsknecht exclaimed. The others sighed when she ran off into the distant, so they quickly geared up and hurried after her.

"Honestly, that Valeria..." Scarlet mused. "What'll she do if she gets ambushed?"

"Ack! Ambush!" they heard the girl in question scream, followed by monstrous screeches.

The group exchanged glances before Scarlet and Rin chuckled. They looked back at Remilia. "Let's go help her out," Rin said.

Remilia couldn't help but sighed at this, but nodded nevertheless.

The three sped up their paces and once they found the brunette slashing some more Woodflies and Tree Rats, they prepared their weapons as well.

"Raging Edge!" Scarlet suddenly shouted, and her body suddenly glowed. Remilia was caught off-guard by this, but the girl didn't realize and suddenly jumped towards a Tree Rat, slicing its head cleanly with her sword. The red light eventually faded as she sighed. "Phew. Got the pest."

"R-Remilia, careful!" Rin suddenly shouted.

Remilia's head perked up and she felt a monster aiming at her from the left. She quickly swung her wooden staff sideways, striking it away from her. Due to her chains, though, the blow wasn't too strong, so it barely did much to the mole creature. It screeched at her again, so she scowled and aimed a free hand at it. "Hnn!"

Immediately, vines appeared around the creature and wrapped the Clawed Mole's arms around its back.

Valeria suddenly rushed at it. "Finishing blow from me!" she said and stabbed her Baselard sword into the monster, which whimpered weakly before its movements stopped completely. "Phew. Nice work, everyone!"

"It could've gone badly, geez."

Rin went to Remilia. "A-are you alright, Remilia?"

The Hexer sat down and nodded. "...sorry."

"Huh? For what?"

She looked at Scarlet, who blinked. "...got distracted."

"Oh, was it my Raging Edge glow?" Scarlet asked. Remilia nodded, to which she chuckled. "Oh, that's just one of the techniques I learned from the Skill Tree consciousness. Like I said, it helps you learn many new abilities and get stronger." The girl sheathed her sword back to her scabbard. "Though I might not show it, the Raging Edge draws out a bit of anger to use it as fuel for extra physical strength. Pretty good for strong blows, really."

"...mn." Remilia nodded and got up. "Are we... done?"

"Um... no, we haven't gotten the supposedly Holy Water yet," Rin said. "B-but the small stream's just up ahead, so..."

"Guess we better get going then?" Valeria asked.

Scarlet smiled. "Nah, it's literally just right there," she said and pointed to a distant in front of them. "You guys can stay here and rest if you'd like. There shouldn't me any monsters nearby right now."

"B-but Scarlet, they could still-"

"Oh?"

The four froze when they heard an unfamiliar voice. Their heads whipped around to spot a group of three appearing from a corner. One was a dignified-looking woman with a long katana by her side, another was a gloomy-looking girl with a shadowy robe with glowing orange spots, and the last one was a plain-looking woman with lots of baggage and a long spear. "So there you girls already formed a guild, hm?" the dignified woman said.

Remilia's three teammates smiled. "Ms. Ren! Ms. Tlachtga!"

"We haven't seen you for a while now!" Rin said. "Where, um, did you two go?"

Ren smiled. "We were attending some more... serious matters," she said.

"...under orders... from _him..._" Tlachtga added.

"F-from the Chieftain?" Scarlet said. "It must have been really important then..."

"Indeed," Ren replied. "Now... who might that new face be?" she asked, looking at Remilia. "Going by looks, she seems to be a Hexer just like Tlachtga. Isn't that nice, Tlachtga? You might have a new friend now."

"...s-stupid..." the orange-haired Hexer whispered. "I'm not... lonely... if I have you..."

_Aww._ Valeria grinned. "This is Remilia. She's from, uh, who knows where, and recruited us to form the to-be big guild Mortem!"

Ren chuckled. "Mortem, hm? A questionable name."

Their Medic sighed helplessly. "I, I thought so too..."

Scarlet then renoticed the third woman in the group. "So... uh, who's that person, Ms. Ren?"

Ren and Tlachtga looked to the person with a spear that they were accompanying. "Oh, this is Freya. She's a Highlander from around High Lagaard, from a tribe of powerful, noble people."

"A Highlander?" Scarlet said. "What's someone like that doing here in Etria? I've heard they believed in justice for all and aren't swayed by fame nor fortune nor orders from unaffiliated individuals..."

"Radha has personally requested assistance from the Highlanders' tribe regarding the mysteries of the labyrinth, as well as some other matters," Ren explained. "Classified matters, mind that."

"Ooh, that sounds scandalous," Valeria said. "I want to know!"

"Valeria, stop that," Scarlet said. "Miss Freya's obviously a special case required for something really important and dangerous. We shouldn't meddle with what we shouldn't know."

Ren nodded. "Wise words, Scarlet. Some things are better left unknown until resolved." She flashed a smile to the stoic spear-wielder. "Right now we're... sort of assisting her with her test, however."

"A... a test?" Rin asked. "Is it... um, different from the tests all explorers do?"

"Not... necessarily..." Tlachtga said.

"A special case or not, she'd still need to prove her own worth to Radha, so she has to map this floor just like all of you had to," Ren said. "We're just about finished, however. This should be the last area you need, Freya." Ren pointed to the map the Highlander was holding. "What say we return now?"

The woman known as Freya nodded and scribbled on her map. Then she turned around, preparing to leave.

"It seems you girls are finished with business. Would you four like to return with us too?" Ren asked.

Valeria rubbed her chin. "Hmm... I want to explore more, but..." She suddenly cheered. "Let's bother Freya and get to know her more!"

Her teammates sighed. "Geez, this idiot..." Scarlet muttered. "But... I guess we'll take you up on your offer, Ms. Ren. We need to report the quests' completion too, after all."

Looking to Remilia, the girls waited for her response. She blinked, but sighed understandingly. "...okay."

"Hmmhm. Seems she's as quiet as you, Tlachtga." Ren chuckled as her partner pouted, looking away.

Suddenly, the group heard loud screams of terror. They quickly ran to the center of the floor and saw, in the distant north, few human figures running towards them. They all seemed terrified of something, but there was absolutely nothing giving chase behind them.

"W-what's the matter?" Scarlet shouted once they got close enough to the group.

"Run!" one of the men screamed. "B-before that... that _thing_ kills us all!"

Ren put a hand on her katana. "What thing, if you don't mind me asking?"

The man pointed behind them. "I-it's a giant four-legged mantis! It, it killed a lot of the guards...!"

Then, a rich-looking boy that was with them stomped his foot. "It... it's because you guards are so useless!" he said. "My dad'll fire you lot for your incompetence!"

"B-but Master-"

"Save your pointless quarrel for later," Ren said. "You lot quickly head home. We'll keep an eye out for anything following you."

The soldiers smiled with relief and bowed. "Th, thank you, explorers! We'll be going on ahead then!" They quickly scurried towards the labyrinth's entrance, to Etria.

Ren turned the opposite direction, getting into a battle stance. "You should all head back too. I'm not sensing anything at the moment, but we don't know what might approach."

Scarlet and Valeria exchanged glances, before getting their swords ready as well. "Better assisted then alone, Ms. Ren!" Scarlet said.

"How can I even think of missing out on this?" Valeria said.

Ren smiled. "Brave explorers you are." She scanned the huge area in front of them once more, before calming down. "Fear not. I believe we should be safe right now. Let's head back and hear more from them."

"Okay!" Scarlet, Valeria and Rin chirped. They, along with Tlachtga and Freya, followed the diligent katana-wielder to town. Remilia looked a bit more at where the men had ran from, before shrugging and following them back to town.


	5. Bloody One-Armed Mantis

Remilia stared up aimlessly, wondering what went wrong. She wondered if becoming a well-known explorer was actually this difficult. If it was, then congratulations are in order. But currently, she didn't feel like that was the case. It felt more like her life was unnecessarily difficult. After all, if it isn't supposed to be like some sort of impossible challenge...

_...why the hell am I lying with only an eye left?_ she thought.

Rin's face, wet with tears, hung above her own as the girl cried her name repeatedly. Perhaps she should actually respond to reassure the girl she wasn't dead, but she didn't feel like saying anything.

Meanwhile, Valeria and Scarlet were trying their hardest- a level of talent that unfortunately isn't enough in this situation- to fend off a giant, four-legged, blood-stained mantis.

"I-it's fast!" Scarlet growled. "It stops every now and then but it's fast when it moves!"

Valeria nodded. "We need to restrict this asshole somehow!" She glanced at the non-active members of Mortem. "Rin! How's Remrem!?"

"S-she's not responding!" Rin cried. "I, I can't tell if... I don't want her to die...!"

"Damn it! How did things become this difficult!?" Scarlet asked herself.

The two saw the monster regaining its focus again for the umpteenth time, and jumped away as it swung its only remaining scythe-arm at them.

_Good question..._ Remilia responded in her thoughts.

* * *

"A Reaping Shade?" Scarlet asked again.

Quinn nodded. "That's right. One of our scholars had recently published a new monster entry, which has already been distributed near the gates." He adjusted his spectacles. "The noble's child's guards recognized it soon after returning, although there are some new details for this particular problem."

"Stronger? Bigger? Faster?" Valeria listed, curious.

"No, not unfair changes," Quinn replied. "The guards have done well to protect the noble's child, and while most of them were slain, they were able to deal some damage to the one chasing them. It seems, according to one guard..." he said and paused, reading a handwritten note, "they managed to cut off one of its arms... and that it should be easily distinguishable by the color of blood coating its body."

"T-that sounds... scary," Rin said.

The man nodded again. "Indeed, this is a new fearsome beast from the recently journeyed third floor. No one has gone beyond this point yet, so we do not know much about it." He bowed to the four girls. "We'll keep updating the information we have to help everyone, so please... slay this monster as your second mission."

Scarlet and Rin exchanged glances. "H-hold on, you're kidding, right?" the redhead asked. "This new, powerful monster that killed many guards... and you're asking us, a guild that _just_ started, to defeat it?"

"Um, even if it's weakened..." Rin added, "I don't think... I don't think that'd be an easy feat for us..."

"I know this sounds extremely difficult," Quinn said, "but the child's parents seek complete revenge against the monster, and they do not wish to gather too much attention from people regarding their foolish- _illegal_ entry to the forest." He sighed. "That's why, they want to enlist the services of only those involved with assisting their men's escape, which would be you girls, Ms. Ren, and Ms. Tlachtga." He looked past them, past the door. "The latter two, unfortunately, have more important orders from the Chieftain himself, thus they cannot be here."

"..hey, wait, what about that Highlander chick?" Valeria asked.

"O-oh, yeah, speaking of which..." Scarlet said, "she was there too, wasn't she?"

"..." Quinn sighed. "...the Highlander was specially requested to assist Radha with more,,, private matters," he said. "Right now, she has been assigned to investigate... something more important."

"Oh... then, then she can't help us too...?" Rin asked.

"Unfortunately, no."

Sighing, Scarlet and Rin looked down solemnly. Exploring was one of their dreams, sure, but the pacing right now was way too fast, and realistically... such development would definitely lead to failure.

"...well, what do ya say, boss lady?" Valeria suddenly asked.

The two's heads perked, remembering the presence of their other member and leader.

"...mn." Remilia walked up to Quinn and gently took the sheet with details of the beast. She stared for a long time, blinking a couple of times, before nodding. "...we... can do it."

"R-Remilia?" Scarlet asked. "Are you... are you sure about this?"

The Hexer looked back at her and nodded. "I... trust everyone..."

"..." She wasn't sure how to respond to that, but if she had to be honest, hearing that alone made her feel somewhat happy. Still, the dangers of this sudden mission is... Scarlet sighed. "...well, alright then. I suppose if she thinks we'll be fine, then we'll have to do what she says."

Rin frowned. "B-but... um, what if things don't go well...?"

Valeria grinned and slapped the Medic's back happily. "Oh, lighten up, Rinny! We'll be fine, we have me after all!"

_You're the epitome of disaster though..._ Scarlet thought.

Quinn, meanwhile, smiled. "I give my deepest thanks to you girls, Mortem." Bowing gratefully, he took off his glasses. "May you four stay safe and successfully defeat this fiend."

"Will do!" Valeria said.

"You can count on us," Scarlet added.

* * *

Remilia sighed. _I guess this is what I get for getting ahead of myself._ Still lying on her back, she wondered what to do.

"R-Remilia, please... don't be dead..." Rin cried.

The Hexer blinked. _Oh, right._ The girl slowly pushed herself up again, her right eye still ringing with pain and blood. Rin gasped, before hugging her tightly. "...?"

"You're safe... you're safe!" the orange-haired girl cried. "I, I was so scared... I thought that, that you had..."

"..." Sighing, Remilia petted the girl's head and gently pushed her off. "I'm... fine."

"R-Remilia's fine!?" Scarlet shouted from across, dodging another deadly blow from the bloodstained, one-armed Reaping Shade. "Remilia! Can you hear me!?"

"...mn," Remilia nodded. She doubted that anyone could hear her anyways amidst this chaos, but she figured it'd be polite to at least respond.

Scarlet struck the beast with her sword again. The armor was still quite tough, but there were few cuts visible on its plating. She glared at the tired monster. "I need you to cast your binding spell on this thing again!"

"Stupid, she already did that!" Valeria interrupted. "Remember, it didn't work! That's why her eye got cut in the first place! The thing's too strong!"

"Darn...!" Scarlet hissed. She knew the brunette had a point- but she thought that if they bound the monster while it was tired, it would at least prevent it from jumping away in time.

Remilia shook her head, however. "R... Remilia?" Rin whispered.

"I... I'll... do it..." The Hexer got up. Blood continued dripping from the scar across her right eye, but she didn't seem to even be in pain from that. Channeling a dark aura through her hands, she raised her right hand and aimed towards the monster. "...hmn!"

A vine exploded from behind the monster, who screeched in surprise at being wrapped by weak vines again.

"It's useless!" Valeria said. "It'll break it off!"

But Remilia kept her hand up. "Hnn!"

Another set of vines exploded from the front, wrapping tightly around the beast, catching it off guard even more.

"W-what...?" Scarlet muttered.

Then another set of vines emerged.

And another.

And one more.

And then a last one.

"W-whoa..." Valeria whispered. The two turned to Remilia, who was now exhausted and just starting to feel the pain in her right eye. "R-Remrem!"

"Remilia!" Scarlet shouted and ran over to her. "You idiot, that was a bit too much... don't push yourself when you're still injured!"

"...nish... it..."

She flinched. "U-uh, what?"

Remilia looked up at the Landsknecht, her remaining eye narrowing. "Finish... it...!" she hissed.

Scarlet gulped. For a moment, it suddenly felt like a different person. "R-right! Valeria!" she called.

"O-on it!" the brunette replied. The two prepared their swords and jumped towards the tangled Reaping Shade, which tried to struggle out of the entire bundle of vines wrapping around it. The girls were getting closer to it, and it became more frantic in its attempt to free itself, but then-

"Die!" both Landsknechts yelled, their swords slicing each half of its neck.

With a loud screech being cut midway, the head fell to the ground, blood spraying on the green grass, its body no longer struggling in the vines.

"...heh!" Valeria turned to Scarlet and offered a high-five. The girl sighed helplessly and returned the clap, feeling somewhat accomplished.

"C-Cure!" Rin's voice snapped them out of their victory trance, as they turned to see her exert some aura on Remilia's face, the Hexer lying on her back and her head on the Medic's lap. "P-please be okay..."

_Oh, right._ "Remilia!" Scarlet called again. "Is your eye alright?"

"Does it feel weird anywhere?" Valeria asked.

Remilia shook her head. "...I'm fine..."

"P-please don't move, Remilia!" Rin yelled. "I need to... I need to focus to heal your eye and scar completely..."

"...okay..."

The Hexer relaxed her body and let her teammate cast her healing spell on her. It seems the less active you are, the better healing you receive from the spell, although she didn't understand it fully.

"...but that was pretty crazy though," Valeria said. "I didn't think it'd be that strong..."

"Are you kidding?" Scarlet asked. "It's a giant mantis. Even before we saw it, common sense states it'd be hell dangerous."

The brunette laughed. "Well, yeah, but hey. You never know."

"...right." Sighing, the red-haired Landsknecht got up and went over to the corpse of the giant mantis. She unsheathed her sword again and stabbed the joint between its shoulder and its only remaining arm. "Anyways, we should bring something back as proof."

"What're you thinking of?" Valeria asked.

The girl rolled her eyes. "What else but the scythe itself?"

Rin nodded. "Yeah, that's the... most recognizable feature, isn't it?"

Suddenly, Remilia lifted her head. "...mn."

"Ah! Remilia, I said don't move!" Rin shouted.

The Hexer blinked. Her eyes were working now. "...I'm fine now..."

"I'm trying to get rid of your scar completely!" Rin said. "It's not easy to change your scar's fibrous tissue into the regular skin tissue, you know!"

"...s-sorry..." Remilia whispered. _What is she saying...?_

"Ahaha, Rin's persistent when it comes to healing, isn't she?" Valeria said. "And really smart too. That's our future doctor for ya!"

Rin frowned at her. "J-just to be clear, us being friends doesn't mean I'll heal you all for free in the future, okay?"

"...I have to... pay?" Remilia asked.

"O-oh, um, no!" Rin replied. "I meant, um, after I become a doctor and retire from exploring..."

"...oh..."

Valeria laughed out loud again, while Scarlet was getting a bit irritated. "You know, Valeria, you could at least help me with the materials!"

"You're still not done cutting the scythe off?" the brunette asked.

"If you haven't noticed," Scarlet muttered, "this thing is _huge..._"

Valeria snickered. "Doesn't excuse you having a hard time cutting through metallic skin..."

_Is she even listening to herself right now...?_ Scarlet turned back and cut the last string of flesh connecting the body and the scythe arm. Upon the success of the dismemberment, the scythe fell to the grass with a loud echoing thud. "Hmm... metallic skin, huh?" The girl gently caressed the body's red plate. "...do you think Shilleka could turn this thing's armor into some good armor or weapon?"

"Uh... I didn't think about that." Valeria stood back up, rubbing her chin. "But I do think she'd be thrilled to get this thing's chunk of skin..."

"...Valeria, help me cut its plating," Scarlet said. _The thought of new weapons, after all..._

The brunette grinned. "Alright, sure thing!" she said and unsheathed her sword once more.

_...it excites the hell out of her._ the girl finished her thoughts, happy that her friend finally got to work.

* * *

The mature bartender poured non-alcoholic liquid into a cup and slid it across the counter. "So? What happened today?" Valerie asked her.

Remilia blinked. "...mn... nothing..."

"Please, I can tell something significant happened," Valerie replied. She turned to Rin. "You want to explain, Rin?"

The Medic blinked. "U-um, nothing... happened?"

At that, the woman laughed. "Come now, girls, I'm not that stupid. I'm just curious."

_Nothing here implies something happened_ though... Figuring the woman was weird, Remilia sighed. "...defeated... giant mantis."

Valerie whistled. "Oooh, is that that newly discovered Reaping Shade fella?" she asked. "Everyone was makin' a huge deal after the scholars published the illustration publicly. Hella scared out of their minds. You girls defeated one?" she said.

Rin shook her head. "W-well, it's more like we fought one that was... um, well, weakened," she said. "One arm or scythe left, and covered in blood... and really tired..."

"Hey, that doesn't change the fact that you girls' guild defeated a newly discovered dangerous monster!" Valerie slammed her hand on the counter, getting everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone! These girls killed one of those Reaping Shade!"

"What!? Really!?"

"Holy shit! That's fast!"

"Is that true!?"

The two Mortem members were immediately swarmed by various people, all shouting and screaming questions about the encounter with the monster or narrating their own stories about their defeat from the species.

From a distance, Valeria and Scarlet sighed. "We were there too though..." Valeria mumbled.

"Oh, can it," Scarlet whispered. "You wouldn't want to be smothered by all those people, would you?"

"Hm... true," the brunette replied. "Poor them, s'got to be quite hard to answer everyone."

Her friend laughed. "Especially for Rin, since Remilia obviously doesn't talk much."

Valeria nodded. "Seems like a pretty weird girl to me, but I guess she's kinda cool too."

The two took another sip of their non-alcoholic beverages, then exchanged glances.

"...pft." They laughed as both decided to leave the other two to their newfound popularity.


	6. Mansion and Maid, Acquired

Quinn readjusted his glasses and took a closer look at the huge, bloodstained scythe lying in front of him. "Why, this is... quite the remarkable result," he commented. "In contrary to the illustrations drawn by Radha's scholars, this red Reaping Shade scythe is just... amazingly red!" He nodded a few times and turned to the four in front of him. "Had this not be required as proof of the monster's dispatching, you girls could sell this for thousands of en!"

"Holy smokes! So we could be rich!?" Valeria exclaimed.

Scarlet frowned. "Val, he just said we had to submit this as a proof of the thing's defeat. We can't sell this."

"But we can be rewarded the cost though, right?"

"...will we?" When the red haired Landsknecht asked the question, their bespectacled acquaintance shook his head.

"It's a bit sad to say, but no. The nobles that put up this mission already discussed and decided the reward, with the assistance of the esteemed Sheldon family."

Scarlet's eyes widened. "The Sheldon family's involved in this as well!?"

Quinn nodded. "Yes, well, a part of the soldiers the nobles borrowed were from the Sheldon family's personal army, so with some of them having been slain, they felt compelled to contribute as well."

"Poppycock, that's amazing!" Valeria exclaimed.

"I... I mean, that's not exactly necessary but..." Scarlet muttered before a small smile appeared on her face, to which she tried to suppress. "what do they want to give... um, reward us with?"

The bespectacled man rubbed his chin. "Hm... if I recalled correctly, your guild was promised a joint ownership of the uninhabited mansion near the corner of Etria..."

"Tinkerbaskets, that's amazing!" Valeria exclaimed.

It was at this point Rin finally spoke up to her friend. "Um, I've sorta been wondering for a while now, but... what exactly are you saying?" she asked the brunette.

Valeria scratched her head. "Oh, I just thought it'd be funny if I start shouting stupid things."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "No, that fits you perfectly. Right, Remilia?"

"..." The Hexer wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she knew deep down that she definitely wanted to agree. Speaking of which, she turned back to the man and bowed gratefully. "...thanks."

The others exchanged glances before doing the same. "W-we really appreciate the reward! Please tell them that!" Scarlet said.

Quinn was slightly amused. "My, I've hardly ever received polite gratitude. I'll make sure to tell them just that."

"Great! Then..." Valeria said before turning around. "Let's go check out the mansion!"

"Wait!" Scarlet said. "Since we're definitely going to be staying there... how about we go get our stuff from our rooms first?" she suggested.

The brunette frowned. "That sounds boring."

"Does it sound boring to leave all your stuff and have someone else find and keep it?"

"...alriiiight."

Rin smiled. "It's not even that far away. It'll just be, like... um, a short detour."

"Mmhm..." Remilia nodded. She really didn't care much where they went, since she didn't own much anyways- everything she had was in her pockets under her cloak, but it didn't hurt to take a side during conversations with her teammates.

"Bye Mr. Quinn!" the four waved to the man as they strolled out Radha Hall, heading towards the very much nearby Rooster Inn.

Greeting the caretaker on the way, they briefly explained their new residency in the mansion to the bellboy and headed to their respective rooms.

Remilia opted to sit and wait near the building's entrance, watching other adventurers and villagers come and go, whilst Rin took around five minutes or so. They waited a bit longer for Valeria, and surprisingly, Scarlet came downstairs within fifteen minutes.

"Gosh, you're slow!" Valeria said. "Even I finished before you, and that's saying something!"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Did you bother tidying up the place and packing properly, or did you just shove everything into your briefcase like the slob you are?"

"You're just jealous of my speedy cleanliness," Valeria said as she looked away, whistling some corrupt tune.

Rin scratched her head. "I, uh, didn't have much anyways, but I didn't tidy the room... s-should I go back and do that?"

The nearby bellboy smiled. "No, there's no need for that. The thought is nice though, thank you." He proudly patted his arms. "I can do that myself, so you girls go enjoy that new mansion in town!"

"We will!" Scarlet said. "Right, Remilia?"

The Hexer stared at her, before shrugging. _Why is she always asking me for confirmation?_ she thought.

"Y'know, it wouldn't hurt to talk more," Valeria eventually said, to which Scarlet quickly glared at her. "What? It's true."

"W-well, yes, but..." Scarlet said, before looking at the Hexer.

Said cloaked girl seemed... not so bothered by it. "...okay," she eventually said, however. "Sorry."

"...well, that's getting somewhere," Valeria said.

Rin chuckled. "Leave it to Valeria to blabber, huh?"

"...what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

* * *

Later, when they decided to pay the mansion a visit, the group discovered someone waiting from within the premises.

"Hey! Who are you supposed to be?" Valeria asked.

"...a maid..." Remilia replied, clearly noting their mysterious guest's attire.

Said maid nodded. "Greetings, Mortem. I am Rosa, a maid sent by the Sheldon family to assist you with your endeavors."

"...so she says," Scarlet said. "That answered your question, Val?"

"Well... I mean, sure, I guess," the brunette replied.

Rosa sighed. _They seem normal._ "Truthfully I was ordered to come assist Lady Raquna's work, but we supposed we could easily resolve the matter of rewarding your guild as well with this."

Rin then raised her hand slightly after recalling their reward details. "Um, yeah, I've been meaning to ask this too... what did Mr. Quinn mean by 'joint ownership'?"

"You see, it seems that Lady Raquna- of the Sheldon family, of course- is expected to arrive in Etria soon." Rosa looked out a window, watching for any signs of whoever she was expecting. "Her work with the Midgard Library seemingly involves her travelling near here, so I was sent here."

"...Midgard Library?" Remilia asked.

"You... never heard of them?" Scarlet asked. "That's odd, I figured they'd especially be big stuff in small villages and towns."

Valeria frowned. "Why do you figure?"

The redhead shrugged. "I mean, I do hear they also often take orphans in and raise them as their own. I figured what with how common it is for people to lose their family in villages, they'd be like some sort of praiseworthy organization." She turned to Remilia. "Say, we still never learnt where you're from. Is it still something you'd rather not tell us?"

Remilia frowned, eyes targeting the ground. Eventually she nodded, to which her teammate sighed. "...sorry."

"No, no, it's fine. I wouldn't want to force you into it," Scarlet said. "Anyways, the Midgard Library's a... sort of organization? I guess? They go around gathering any relics and stuff about our world's ancient history. You know... stuff."

Valeria grinned. "Basically like grave robbery, but for knowledge."

Rin blinked. "...I don't think that's..."

Rosa interrupted them by clearing her throat. "Anyways," she began, "I assume you girls would like to relax here for a while before embarking on another adventure. Would any of you like something to drink?"

The four exchanged glances before taking their seats at a long table. "Right, uh, any tea blend will do," Scarlet said.

"I, uh... plain water's fine," Rin said.

Valeria rubbed her chin. "Hm... how about coffee? I'd like one cup, please."

The group stared at her. "When did you start drinking coffee?" Scarlet asked.

"Since now. Because I'm way more mature than that quack maid!" Valeria said.

"..."

Rosa briefly rolled her eyes. "And what about you, Ms... Ms. Remilia?"

Remilia shrugged. "...it's fine."

The maid nodded and headed towards another room. "I shall get to it. In the meantime, you may also use the nearby device to perform some grimoire synthesis." With that suggestion, she left the room to brew up some beverages for her new mistresses.

"Grimo what?" Valeria voiced her confusion.

"Grimoire synthesis. Geez, what am I, some old teacher?" Scarlet said. "You definitely need to visit Etria's library more. Rin, what about you?" she inquired.

The orange haired girl looked away sheepishly.

"...after this, I'm taking you and Valeria to the library. The labyrinth can wait another day." She then turned to her leader. "Remilia, do you... uh, do you know what Grimoire stones are?"

Remilia stared. She nodded afterwards, to the girl's relief, and pulled out something from under her cloak- some fragments of the very stones they were discussing.

"Oh, good! You even have some with you, awesome!" Scarlet said. "Okay then, while we wait for Rosa, you two better listen up. Uh, Remilia, you can just... please hop in anytime if I say anything wrong."

"...okay," the Hexer said.

_...I feel she won't actually help much._ Scarlet took the samples and gave one to each of her clueless teammate. "Alright, so grimoire stones are essentially something similar to a monster's core," she began. "They're not exactly cores, because they're not necessary for a monster's survival- but they're found in every creature in the labyrinth.

Many Radha scholars have compiled their research together, and at some point, several years ago, they've reached he conclusion that these grimoire stones are what provides the monsters their unique abilities and skills, as well as certain features unique to few specific ones. In general, these grimoire stones are composed of a mixture of varying chemicals and substances, as well as differing amount of magical energy within.

Not all stones are the same, of course, nor do they comprise of the same insides. For example, in the latter's case, some stones' magic react strongly with one's muscles, or sometimes with one's bones, and when held by someone, the magic spreads out and reinforces that individual's durability and strength. Such ones are said to boost one's physical power and defense.

In the former's case, some stones are created with- hypothetically- a substance that burns violently when in contact with magic energy, and the monsters with that sort of stone can channel the energy and spit or shoot fire out its body. Something like that, or so the scholars currently believe.

There's many different kinds of grimoire stones you might find out there. One that improves your eyesight or concentration- useful for harvesting rare materials- or maybe one that lets you produce ice or lightning- good for mages- or even better stuff. It's a really cool, but still mysterious thing about the labyrinth's life."

Valeria frowned. "Booooring... all I heard was 'pretty magical gems'. What else ya got for me?" she asked.

"Valeria!" Scarlet growled. "This is important stuff if you want to get better! Grimoire stones are helpful to many well known guilds in the past, you know?"

Rin raised a hand. "Wait... but then, how come we don't harvest all the grimoire stones that we can find?" she asked.

Scarlet blinked. "...good question, right. Thing is, a grimoire stone's durability is really... incalculable. Often it will break quite easily, but sometimes it will remain after a fight, free to harvest... apparently."

"So... you're not sure," Valeria said.

"Hey, I didn't create these things."

"Whatever, teach."

The redhead sighed. _One of these days..._ she thought. Soon after, she turned to Remilia. "Anything you'd like to add or correct, Remilia?"

Said Hexer stared for a while, before shaking her head. Most of what she heard seemed sensible so far- she didn't actually know too much about grimoire stones, but figured she'd rather not be dragged off to the library.

"Alright, then. I guess that wraps it up nicely."

As if on cue, Rosa entered the room then. "I have finished preparing these for you girls. Please enjoy them." She set a tray down on the table.

The girls peered into their respective cups and gently grabbed them.

"Mm... my mature coffee smells nice," Valeria commented. "Probably better than your tea, Scar, and your... uh... water, Rin."

_Damn, she's getting annoying..._ both girls thought, quietly ignoring the supposedly mature girl.

Said brunette scoffed. "Ignoring people isn't mature, y'know." With that remark, she took a sip from her coffee only to choke. "Ohgh ghahd- ack-"

"W-whoa, take it easy!" Scarlet said. "It's probably really hot, blow it first, geez!"

The whacky Landsknecht clutched her throat in pain. "N-no, it's... ack... h-hella bitter... pwewtthhht..."

Rosa chuckled. "You are free to add any amount of sugar cubes, Ms. Valeria."

The brunette wheezed and glared at the maid. "T-tell me that first... frghgh..." She turned to her cup of coffee once more, before looking away. "Ah, whatever. Remilia, you can have this."

"Huh?" Scarlet frowned.

The Hexer shrugged and took the cup in her hands, staring down at the dark brown blend. "...hm."

Her red haired companion, however, suddenly stared at her really skeptically. "N-now, hold on, Remilia. That's, um... wait, don't do anything..."

"I don't, ack, care what she does with it... p-plain water, plain water please, Rosa..." Valeria said.

The maid left to get some plain water, but meanwhile, Remilia switched between staring at the coffee and then staring at Scarlet.

Eventually... "...whatever." She put the cup down and slid it over to the Landsknecht, who seemed quite flabbergasted.

"Y... you're giving it to m-me?" Scarlet asked.

Remilia nodded. "Mmhm."

Scarlet smiled, a bit too gratefully. "Wow... t-thanks, Remilia."

"U-uh, I'm still- hack- dying here... -hurgh-" Valeria wheezed from the ground, having unnecessarily fallen off her chair.

Observing all of this, Rin took an ordinary sip from her cup of plain water.

Then she smiled at them.

_These girls are weird,_ she thought and chuckled. _But I probably shouldn't say that._

"Say, Rosa," Scarlet suddenly said, in an attempt to divert everyone's attention away from her and the cup, "are you an adventurer yourself?"

The maid seemed a bit taken back by the sudden question, but smiled. "Not now, I'm afraid not. But I do know a bit about exploration, I suppose."

Valeria quickly recovered from her 'ordeal' and straightened up with curiosity. "Oooh, really? How strong are you?"

Rosa snickered. "That's something you won't find out anytime soon."

"Aw, bummer. You think you can help me train sometimes?" the brunette asked.

"Hm... I'll have to think about that. I am quite the busy maid after all," Rosa replied. She winked with a teasing grin, implying she most likely wouldn't be free anytime soon.

"Booo, you should train me..." Valeria muttered.

"Hey, we get enough practice in the labyrinth," Rin pointed out. "We could just, um, go at our own pace as we explore deeper."

The brown haired Landsknecht rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but wasn't it just this morning Remrem here got her eye sliced?"

_Valeria!_ Scarlet wanted to shout. She looked over to her leader, who looked down in what seemed like... doubt and disgrace? "W-well, I mean, that giant mantis was strong and cunning! W-who'd have expected it to hide itself and ambush us like that after luring us into a dead end, a-am I right?"

Rin panicked similarly, slightly worried about their leader's emotions. "Y-yeah! It wasn't your fault, Remilia!

Remilia slowly nodded. But she didn't seem too convinced, since she followed that up with another one-word apology.

Their inconsiderate Landsknecht shrugged. "Hey, don't be. Rather than you, it's all of us that are weak. Can't help that."

Once again, the other two members sent the brunette glares that went ignored. This time, though, it seemed like Rosa was willing to help, since she quietly went over to the brunette and pulled her by the collar. "My, Ms. Valeria, it seems like you are tired. Perhaps I should bring you to your room before you fall asleep on the table."

"Whuh? I'm not... what? Hey, wait...!" Valeria began screaming as she was dragged away from the living room.

The three watched on as she disappeared, before they sighed collectively.

"...w-well, I mean, at least we can all agree that together we can grow stronger, right?" Rin eventually said.

"I... guess so," Scarlet said. She cautiously looked at the Hexer. _I hope she's not blaming herself nor annoyed..._

Remilia then sighed. "...sorry," she apologized again. "I'll... do better."

Scarlet and Rin exchanged glances.

"...hey, Remilia, it'll be fine," the redhead said. "I'll do better too, a'ight?"

"Me too," Rin said. "It wasn't your fault, we just bit off more than we could chew. Let's keep doing our best, 'kay?"

The Hexer stared at each of her teammate, before nodding. "Okay..."

And quietly, she left to find her own room as well, leaving her remaining teammates in an awkward silence.


	7. A Need to Improve

_I need to get_ stronger.

That thought alone plagued her mind ever since she lost an eye to the Bloody One-Arm, and it made her feel worse when Valeria insensitively made a remark pointing that out. She had been given orders to, no matter what, meet with Chieftain Visil. To do that, she had to rise in fame and ranking (or whatever) by becoming an explorer and proving her worth.

And of course, they were progressing. In a few days, the group had made it past the second floor, and almost cleared the third floor as well. Granted, they escaped from monsters a lot, especially the terrifying Reaping Shades on the third floor lying in wait for more victims, but nevertheless they safely avoided them and almost reached the fourth floor.

_But am I going about this the right way?_

She felt... no, she was certain that this would take too long. And especially with how out of the loop her teammates were, they'd never be able to help her get to the bottom of labyrinth in time, no matter what shortcuts they took.

The Hexer somberly glanced at the moon, quietly closing the mansion's door behind her. She slowly took steps towards the gate when she felt a presence nearby.

"Going out somewhere this late?"

She turned slightly. A familiar man in white lab coat, with long grey hair and wearing spectacles, promptly closed his book and picked up his lantern. Simon Yorke, or so was his name, was one of the five explorers who had arrived to the mansion a bit over a week ago.

Hailing from the Midgard Library, he- a Medic, along with Arthur Charles, an Alchemist, and Raquna Sheldon, a Protector- seemed to have joined up with the Highlander they met earlier- Freya- and another unfamiliar blonde girl that wielded weapons called... 'guns'. He seemed to be the intellectual one of the group, she noted.

"Mn."

"And where might you be planning on going?" Simon asked.

"...mn." Remilia briefly pondered whether to lie, be vague, or outright state the truth. After all, this man probably wouldn't believe her if she tried to squeeze her way out of this. "...labyrinth."

"Oh? That's no good." Simon sighed and walked to the door. "I suggest you save it for tomorrow. It's dangerous to wander alone in the labyrinth, especially at this time," he suggested and entered the mansion.

Remilia scowled. "...whatever." She waited a few seconds, then left the premises once she was sure he wouldn't come out to pull her inside or anything.

* * *

Scarlet scratched her head. "Huh, that's a first. Remilia's not in her room," she said. Glancing to her left, she wondered if she should wake Valeria and Rin up to ask them about the Hexer, but she figured that since they were probably still asleep, they wouldn't have known a thing. The redhead walked down the stairs and saw some figures already seated at the main room's table. "Oh, Mr. Simon, Ms. Frederica, Ms. Freya. Good morning."

"Good morning, Ms. Ibis," Simon said.

"Good morning..." Frederica said.

Freya simply offered a nod.

_Another silent type,_ huh? Scarlet mentally rolled her eyes and looked around. "Have any of you seen Remilia? I was going to discuss our next plans with her first, but she doesn't seem to be in her room. I figured she probably woke up early and went for a walk or something. Did she say anything to you three?"

Frederica and Freya exchanged glances. The blonde then looked at her acquaintance. "Um... I haven't seen her so far today..."

"Mn. Same."

Simon, meanwhile, rubbed his chin. _So she didn't return, hm? How peculiar._ He then noticed Scarlet was looking at him, waiting for a reply. "...I haven't seen her either, but perhaps she could be taking a stroll around town, or somewhere more calm."

"More calm?"

"For example... the labyrinth. The first floor, at least."

Scarlet blinked. "Huh. That... actually makes sense. Rin does take strolls there from time to time, with that new staff... oh, thanks for providing the deer antlers to Shilleka, again," she quickly added. "You should've seen how ecstatic Rin was, getting a new, improved staff." She scratched her head. _That being said, Remilia bought that other new staff, something about a camel's tail... wonder where you'd find a camel here._

"It's... no problem," Frederica said. "...you should probably hurry and look for your friend. ...I'm a bit worried."

"Worried?" Scarlet tilted her head. "Well... I mean, it's only the first floor, but... sure, I'll go find her, I guess?"

Scarlet quickly grabbed her armor and weapons set near the entrance, equipping them and nodding to herself.

"Right. I'll get going now." She sighed. _Although I'm sure there really wasn't anything to be worried about._

When the girl reached the labyrinth's entrance, she greeted the guards standing by the entrance and inquired as to whether they saw her leader go in, but to no avail. It seemed like Remilia went in when there wasn't anyone around. _When do the guards' posts start?_ she wondered. As she walked along the paths of the first floor, she eventually remembered the location of the hidden river.

"...I guess she should be there." The girl followed her memories to where she remembered it to be, and spread apart the bushes in front of her.

The cool, glistening river flow mingled well with the sunlight, painting a beautiful sight of nature for her eyes to feast upon.

But it was missing the Hexer, of course.

"Hm... I guess she's not on the first floor?" Scarlet mused. _But going down further would start to get dangerous..._ She sighed. _Or maybe we've gotten strong enough to get through the second floor alone now?_ She turned to head towards the second floor's entrance. _At least I doubt she'd be on the third floor._

* * *

Remilia glared at the giant mantis standing tall in front of her. Both were worn down, standing in place and not exchanging a single sound.

Finally, the Reaping Shade decided to take its change at a fatal killing blow and raised its scythe, lunging towards the cloaked girl. She leaped sideways, raising her hand aimed at the monster. "Hmn!" her voice tensed as she felt power surge through her hands. However, before her binding curses could activate, the giant mantis kicked the ground with one of its front legs, turning it slightly sideways, enough to face her. It brought its scythe down, slicing her hand off cleanly.

She winced in pain, keeping her mouth shut with a hiss of rage. "Not enough!" she yelled at the mantis. One's magical powers did not necessarily require a hand to be able to use it- this was something she knew from long ago. Thus, her dismembered arm raised, she continued pushing her magic through. Finally, an explosion of thorny vines bursted from the air and wrapped around the mantis' head.

Taken by surprise, the mantis tried to use its scythe to slash the vines blocking its views, but its arms couldn't rotate as far as needed to have the scythe's blades even near its face.

Using this change she was given, Remilia limped around the Reaping Shade and slowly climbed its back.

The mantis felt this and began to wildly hop around, trying to shake her off, but the pain ringing in her severed arm only made her grip tighter. Furthermore, her cursed cloak- which, through magic energy, can be controlled like air or shadow by the cursed wearer- was making sure she remains attached to the creature.

Soon reaching the top of the mantis' head, she scowled. She brought her staff from under her cloak, holding it with her surviving left hand.

"Die," she hissed and jammed the staff through its skull.

The Reaping Shade let out its final scream just as its brain stopped functioning, then its body collapsed forward, the Hexer tumbling onto the ground. She panted, getting up and seating herself on the defeated monster's back.

"...damn it." She could still feel the air invading her wound, the blood seeping out. _I can't focus like this._ With her magic cloak, she forcibly formed a long makeshift string of fabric and wrapped it around her severed arm. _This should be good enough._

Next business of order- absorbing the monster's energy, and lastly, benefiting from her skill tree consciousness.

Whilst Remilia had never been one to read books, she had at some point decided to try visiting the library per advice from Scarlet. What she managed to find in a short time was an untouched book on various theories as to how certain things in the labyrinth worked, and one of them was 'gaining experience from battle'. The writer, Allen Kingfisher, had proposed that more than just 'learning from the experience of combat', when one or a group kills a monster, the monster's energy spreads and either evaporates or is absorbed into nearby living organisms- that being humans, in explorers' cases.

That was how, linking it to the skill tree consciousness, one gained more 'points' or 'eligibility' to more skills and techniques locked away in one's mind the more they defeat their opponents. It seems like Allen Kingfisher also believed that everyone has the skill tree for every occupation, but only certain ones are unlocked based on the actual experience they have in certain actions.

_Never mind that,_ Remilia thought and ejected the memories of the book. She slowly calmed herself, ignoring the pain in her arm that was fading away, and tried to meditate. It took a bit longer than usual, but she managed to lose herself in the darkness behind her eyelids as those weird glowing orbs entered her inside field of vision.

She focused on the curses she figured she needed the most.

**'Stoning Curse': 2**

_How many 'points' do I have?_ she wondered. Subsequently, the orbs in her inside view began flowing to the area labelled as 'Stoning Curse'. The number in her head started rising, up to five. _Three? That's all?_

**'Stoning Curse': 5**

She sighed. She supposed that would have to do. It did at least strengthen her stoning curse, which would help a lot with weaker enemies, and hopefully it'd start working on stronger enemies like the mantis, as well.

Pouring her accumulated energy into the Stoning Curse technique, she felt more knowledge flow into her mind.

Once she was done, the Hexer got up and grabbed her staff, jamming it into the collapsed monster's joints between its scythe and arms. She separated both scythes from the body, then extended parts of her shadowy cloak to wrap around the scythes. She supposed she could drag them back to town.

Which reminded her... Scarlet and Valera did remove the Bloody One-Arm's plating that other day. Remilia turned back to the fallen Reaping Shade. She figured she could-

_pssshhh_

The body evaporated into shadowy dust, leaving behind no traces of its carcass.

Blinking, the Hexer shrugged and headed back up the floors of the labyrinth.

* * *

"Seriously, what were you thinking!?" Scarlet exclaimed. "Did you know how worried I was when I couldn't find you on the second floor!? And heavens above, I almost died seeing you limp out from the third floor!"

"Sorry..." Remilia rasped. Shortly after walking up the stairs, she ran into Scarlet, who quickly went to her to help carry the scythes.

She also felt like she'd be in even deeper trouble if her teammate knew about her dismembered arm, so she kept her hands concealed under her cloak. LUckily the bleeding wasn't as bad as before thanks to her cursed cloak, but at this rate, she felt she might blank out anytime soon.

"Sorry doesn't even cut it!" the Landsknecht replied. "I can't believe you went and tried to fight the thing on your own. You could've died, Remilia!" she said. "God, if something terrible had happened to you, Rin would be devastated!

"...? Why?" Remilia asked.

"Obviously because she thinks of you as her fr-" Scarlet paused and paled. "...wait. Remilia. You brought two scythes. Don't tell me."

The Hexer tilted her head, before understanding what the Landksnecht thought. "J-just one," she replied.

Having held her breath, the redhead exhaled in relief. "Thank god for that." She turned around. "Now, come on! We're going to go sell these to Shilleka, get you something to eat from Ms. Rosa, and get you some good morning rest! Got it?"

_...I won't last._ Remilia kept herself from scowling. "...let's eat first."

"Huh? Uh... well, sure. The ordering doesn't matter anyways." Seeing no problem with that wish, she walked alongside Remilia towards their mansion, but the cloaked girl instead pulled her clothes. "Huh?"

Remilia pointed to the Golden Deer Pub. "...let's go there." Eating to recover energy was at the top of her priority right now, but if anyone at the mansion noticed her wound, she'd definitely be given a long unnecessary lecture from either Simon, Rin, or even both. She definitely didn't need to hear more scolding.

"...uh, okay." Scarlet was slightly curious as to why her leader wanted to go there, but she figured Rosa wouldn't mind. More food for the other residents of the mansion, after all. "Let's go, then."

The two entered the pub. It was still morning, so there weren't much customers there, but the few there definitely noticed the huge ass scythes they carried.

"Whoa! Lassies, are those-!?"

"Are my eyes going crazy!?"

"Humongous scythes! That's-"

The pub owner, Valerie (not Valeria), smiled with amusement. "My, you girls, your guild just keeps surprising us, don't you?" she said.

"Ugh, it's even worse," Scarlet replied. "This idiot here went all by herself to fight those Reaping Shades!" she said.

"Alone!? Whoa! Brave leader!"

"Wow! And she's just a Hexer! That's amazing!"

Remilia narrowed her eyes, but that didn't seem to be noticed. She quietly took her seat along with Scarlet. The pain in her hand was growing again. _Damn it... I can't..._ "Ordering."

"Not so talkative, hm? Sure, sure. Here's the menu." Valerie placed the sheet of orders onto the counter for her to read.

"Tell us the secret of your strengths!"

"Are you going to sell those to Shilleka? Lucky her!"

"Can I join your guild!?"

Scarlet laughed nervously. "N-now, now, give us some space, please," she said. Then she whispered to the last person, "and sorry, we're not looking for new members at the moment."

"I-I'll have... juice..." Remilia rasped to the publican.

"Roger that. And you, Scarlet?" Valerie asked. "Might as well as order breakfast for your leader as well, too."

Scarlet grimaced internally. "Right. Um, I'll..." she paused and noticed the Hexer resting her head on the counter, faced down. "Uh, Remilia? You okay?"

"...I'm... okay..."

"You don't look so well..." Scarlet noted. "You look... pale." _Then again, her skin is normally pale anyways..._ But nevertheless, she was becoming slightly concerned.

Valerie in particular didn't say anything, but she frowned. After a while, she closed her eyes. "...Scarlet, you might want to take her to the nearby clinic," she said. "I smell faint traces of blood."

The Landsknecht paled. _That's not good._ "H-hey, Remilia? Remilia?"

Remilia didn't respond.

"Whoa, is the little lady okay?" a customer asked. "Fighting that mantis must've took a huge toll on her!"

Another adjusted his glasses. "I don't see anything wrong with her, but her behavior right now is intriguing..."

Suddenly, they heard a splashing noise.

Scarlet gulped and looked down. Remilia's severed arm was dangling slightly, a huge pool of blood forming from the liquid dripping from her wound. "What the-"

"T-the little lady's bleeding like crazy!" the first customer yelled and got up, pointing to the seated girl.

Valerie dropped her glass and looked around. "Someone go call the clinic's doctor and get a stretcher here!"

"R-right!" few of the few customers there exclaimed and rushed out the pub.

The publican then turned to the panicking redhead. "Scarlet, go get your friends."

"But what about-"

"I can patch her up," the brunette said and pulled out a long string of clean fabric. "I can do at least this much. It shouldn't be anything big, but at least, her friends should know of this. She'll be fine, I guarantee."

"O-okay." Scarlet got up and ran out the pub as well.

Sighing, Valerie cradled Remilia's unconscious body on her lap, working on her dismembered arm. "...you idiot. There's a limit to pushing yourself, you know..." she muttered.

_This is why I hate it when young ones like these becomes adventurers,_ she thought.


	8. Question

"Jeez, look at all this nasty mantis bloodstains on the grass," Valeria said and shuddered. The three peered into the fields of the labyrinth, seeing no traces of the mantis having respawned anywhere. "Took boss girl a hell lotta guts to fight this thing alone."

"Um, it's amazing, but it's stupid too," Rin hissed. "S-she could've died!"

"Girls, not now," Scarlet said and pointed. "Look, I think I see her hand there."

The other two followed her finger and saw an unmoving, cleanly severed chunk of human hand. Specifically, it was a right hand.

Valeria covered her mouth. "Urp. G-guys, I think that's..."

"Insects!" Rin said. They weren't the giant insect monsters they faced on previous floors, of course, but nevertheless the sight of small bugs crawling on a friend's severed appendage wasn't a pleasant one. Then again, seeing a severed hand was already traumatizing enough. She quickly grabbed the arm and shook it around, throwing the few insects on the arm off of it. "C-come on, let's hurry!"

"W-wait, Rin," Scarlet said.

"What!?"

"Whoa, calm down," Valeria said. "We just think using an Ariadne Thread would be faster."

The Medic's expression turned apologetic. "S-sorry..." she whispered.

"Never mind that, hurry," Scarlet said. She squeezed her string of Ariadne Thread and felt it pull her up. "Grab on, you two!"

"Right!"

As the string stretched and traveled upwards, the Medic prayed to whatever powers above that her leader would be fine.

* * *

"So this is the young lady?" a certain old man asked. "The rumored girl who bravely fought and defeated a terrifying monster alone?"

"Uh, it seems so," the other person in the room, a magenta haired bespectacled man, replied. "At least, that's what I heard directly from one of her teammates, chieftain."

"I see." Visil nodded and stared at the unconscious Hexer with interest. "Have you thoroughly examined her yet, Dr. Leabo?"

Leabo nodded. "I have, but... it might sound a bit weird, alright? She seems to have quite the... unique body."

"Oh? Pray tell."

"...chieftain, what color do you see her flesh as? On her severed arm, of course."

The chieftain narrowed his eyes. "...do correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like... a shade of purple?"

"...okay, so my eyes weren't wrong, then." Leabo jotted down some observations. "Yes, so she seems to have an oddly different-colored inside than we normally have. And of course, she seems to have lost a huge amount of blood, perhaps a bit too huge, I'd even say," he said. "But this girl seems to be perfectly fine, just needs to recover... somehow."

"Fascinating... that sounds like someone with lots of potential for Radha," Visil noted.

"Um... yes, indeed, I would think so too." Dr. Leabo adjusted his glasses. _More a fascinating specimen, though._

The two watched as her eyes slowly opened. Remilia weakly moved her head, eyes resting on the sight of the two. "...who..."

"Greetings, um, Ms. Remilia." Dr. Leabo offered a courteous bow. "I am known here as Dr. Leabo. I'm a friend and teacher of your teammate, Rin Oriole. You know her."

_...ah._ She nodded slowly, then shifted her gaze to the other man.

"And this is the chieftain of Radha, Mr. Visil. He's here to personally commemorate you for your, uh, feats. Against the Reaping Shade. The rumors have been spreading, see."

_The Chieftain...!_ Remilia stared hard at the man, ignoring the gentle smile planted on his face. It was sickeningly fake, she could tell. "...s... sto..."

Her left hand raised, she reached for him.

But suddenly, with movement so fast she couldn't even tell when he took action, his hand grasped hers in a friendly handshake. "Why, of course, a handshake. I'd be honored to give you that much," Visil said.

_I think she wanted a high-five,_ Dr. Leabo thought. "Well, you two have fun chatting while I search for... uh, some stuff. God I need to clean this office more often," he muttered.

The doctor no longer interfering with their moment, Remilia narrowed her eyes. She tried to free her only remaining hand, but Visil's grip was surprisingly tight.

Then his smile disappeared and his eyes turned red. The girl felt an intense aura explode from him. Her eyes widened in shock- it was a feeling she had felt once before, but it was still incredibly overwhelming. She couldn't even move, nor talk, nor retaliate, nor anything- her instincts were screaming for her to run.

Visil narrowed his eyes. "_**How pitiful, child of the devil.**_"

_Run! Run! Run! Run! Ru_

_There is no escape._

The girl jolted back to reality once the door suddenly opened, a certain orange haired Medic running into the room. "Dr. Leabo! W-we got the hand!" she informed.

"Oh, uh, sure. Put it next to her, I'll heal her later."

"D-don't waste time!" Rin seemed to be out of breath, and impatient, for reasons she couldn't tell. She blinked once Rin turned to look at her, having forgotten about Visil for a moment, just as the man let go of her. "Remilia!"

"Rin." The Hexer stared. "What..."

"Lie back down!" the Medic exclaimed. "It's not good to push yourself after just waking up!"

"Geez, I said slow down, Rin!" Scarlet suddenly appeared as well.

Visil chuckled. "Ho ho, I see you have quite the caring companions, Ms. Remilia."

The redhead blinked when she heard and realized Visil was there. "C-Chieftain!?"

"Oh wow, dreams accomplished," the last of Mortem, Valeria, commented as she entered. "Good for you, Scarl."

"S-shut up!" Scarlet hissed, and offered a stiff bow. "C-Chieftain! Th-thank you for all your hard work!" she said.

"No worries, young lady." Visil got up and petted her head, to her delight. "Now, I'm saddened to cut this short, but I need to get back to my offices. I hope I didn't bother you nor your comrade."

"N-not at all! Right, Remilia!?"

"..." The Hexer stared at his direction, a small feeling inside her still terrified of the presence she felt earlier.

Visil smiled. "I'll be seeing you later, Mortem, if you'd allow me." With that, he disappeared from the clinic, leaving the redhead Landsknecht in awe.

"Ohmygosh. Chieftain Visil was here!" Scarlet squealed. "And, and he petted my head!"

"Forget that!" Rin interrupted. "Dr. Leabo! The hand!"

"Eh, as I taught you before," the doctor said, "there's really no time limit as long as you have a talented Medic ready at disposal. Besides," he paused and stared at Remilia, "don't you girls have something more important to discuss right now?"

_...we do?_ Remilia wasn't quite sure what that could be, and she had even less clues as to why the doctor was seemingly fascinated by her. But then Rin grabbed her head and turned her to face the Medic.

"Remilia!" Rin yelled. "You!"

"Me...?"

"Yes! You!" she yelled. "What is wrong with you!?"

Now the Hexer was even more confused. "What... is...?"

"Remilia, she's talking about what you did," Scarlet said and sighed. "Like, what were you thinking, going off alone to fight that giant insect monster?"

"...I'm fine..." the Hexer replied. That didn't seem to soothe her teammates.

"You almost died!" Rin said. "Do you know how much blood you lost!?"

"How much _did_ she lose?" Valeria asked.

Dr. Leabo shrugged. "I dunno."

_And he's our town's most well-known Medic?_ the two Landsknechts wondered.

"The point is," Rin resumed, "what you did was stupid! You could've died, and somehow, I feel like you'd do it again!"

"...mmhm," Remilia agreed with a nod.

Scarlet face-palmed. _This girl..._ "Remilia, do you understand why Rin's upset with you?"

She pondered that for a while. _She's... angry?_ "...no."

"Wow, she's a riot," Valeria muttered. _And wow, Rin's speaking her mind clearly today._

"Remilia, we're your teammates," Scarlet said. "We care for you, and we worry for you. If you do something like going out alone to fight some giant monster, of course we'd be a bit upset. You didn't even let us know in advance or anything, you know?"

"...I didn't... need help," Remilia said. "To... get stronger. ...must do it alone."

Rin frowned. "That's... that's not how it works, Remilia." She gently clasped the girl's other hand. "You don't have to do this alone. You have us, Remilia. We can do this together, we can become stronger together."

"I'm not sure what is it you're supposed to do," Scarlet said, "but I know how you feel, about having to meet the chieftain. I'm willing to help out, too"

"And I'm always ready anytime for action!" Valeria chimed. "Boss girl, you know I'm all for getting stronger!"

"..." For some reason, she felt a bit happy hearing her teammates offering their assistance. The Hexer thought it was quite nice, these girls reassuring her they'd be by her side. But still... _they're not..._

"...we're not reliable, are we?" Rin suddenly asked.

"R-Rin?"

The others were shocked she'd even guess that, but then seeing Remilia unable to respond slightly shattered their hearts.

"R... Remilia?" Scarlet said.

The Hexer was shaking. "I... I don't know..."

"...it's fine," Rin said. "It's fine. I sort of... understand why you'd think that, maybe." She looked down and didn't say anything else. After a while, the Medic got up and headed towards the door. "...but, but I hope we can get along again once you're better," she said. "I'll try to... become stronger too, I guess. For your sake."

"W-wait, Rin," Scarlet called after her, but to no avail. She looked back and forth between her teammates, before bowing apologetically. "Uh, get well soon, Remilia." She quickly followed the Medic outside.

Valeria then sighed. "Now, come on, boss girl, you can't do that," she said. "Not answering might as well be like confirming what she said."

"I... I didn't..." the Hexer said, but couldn't properly form a response to that.

"...Remrem, you know you can't keep this going," the brunette said. "We're a team. You know we can't work together if you're not willing to, and you'll never reach the bottom and impress the chieftain without help."

Remilia nodded slowly, despite how horrible that sounded to her confidence.

"Why don't you open up a bit more?" Valeria asked. "If you're not ready to tell everyone, then... how about start with me?"

"...no..."

"..."

The girl clutched her head, sighing. _What a pain._ Looking towards Dr. Leabo for help, the man promptly looked away. _Useless ass._ Valeria turned back to Remilia, noticing how fragile she seemed. To her confusion, she clutched the bed sheets tightly and pulled them up, covering part of her body. Valeria didn't recall her leader being too injured, until she recognized what Remilia currently resembled. "...Remrem, are you... scared?"

"...no..." Remilia responded after a few seconds of silence.

The brunette blinked. It was only a little bit, but she felt like she might have been able to guess a bit of her leader's past, supposedly.

"...hey, Remrem. Wanna hear a story?"


	9. A Small Improvement

Remilia sat alone on the patient bed, her arms wrapped around her legs. "...what... do I do?" she asked nobody in particular.

Her inner voice scoffed. _What can you do? You blew it._

"...no," she then replied verbally. "Not... my fault."

_But you know it is,_ her inner voice remarked. _You went off and did your own battle, almost died, worried them, and couldn't even tell them you trust them._

She shook a bit. "...but that's... because I don't have to..." she whispered.

_No, you know the truth,_ she thought. _The truth is you don't. You don't trust them, because they're weak._

"...no, not true," Remilia eventually said. "Scarlet... Scarlet is strong. And... smart. Knows... what to do." She covered her face. "Valeria... she's strong too. And funny. And weird." A smile formed on her face, unbeknownst to her. "And Rin... Rin's kind. Not strong. ...but determined." The Hexer recalled the short memories she had with them, a bit amused by how often Scarlet shouted at Valeria, or how wild Valeria sometimes become, or how strict Rin was whenever she did something at her own expense.

_What the hell, so you do know their good points,_ her inner voice spoke. _What are you going to do now?_

"...I have to... apologize," Remilia said. She hopped off the patient bed and looked out the window. The moon was shining brightly tonight. "...need to return... to mansion." Now determined to convince her teammates that she at least relied on them somewhat, she walked out the room and navigated through the dark corridors, never bothered to find the light switch.

Eventually she found the exit (it wasn't that hard to find in the first place, so she briefly wondered why she didn't manage to leave the building earlier) and wandered onto the streets. The girl looked around to try and find the mansion, eventually setting her sights on the shared household.

She hurriedly rushed to the mansion and walked through the gates. She saw a certain maid sitting on the front porch, sipping from a cup of coffee. "Rosa."

"Oh. Ms. Remilia." Rosa gently placed her cup down and stood, offering a courteous bow. "I see you've properly recovered?" she asked.

Remilia nodded. "I'm... fine."

"That is good to hear. Have you eaten?" Rosa asked. "If you'd like, I wouldn't mind preparing a meal right now."

"...no." The Hexer shook her head. "Need to find... Rin."

"Ms. Oriole?" Rosa asked. _Is that her family name?_ Remilia wondered, nodding nevertheless. "Ms. Oriole left with the others not long ago."

"...who?" Remilia asked. somehow feeling like something was amiss.

"Ms. Ibis and Ms. Wren. Your other teammates." Rosa put a finger to her chin. "I believe they said they were going to hone their combat experience in the labyrinth."

_Training? Now?_ Remilia grimaced upon remembering that she did the same thing just last night, causing this mess in the first place. She nodded regardless. "...thank you." The girl hurriedly ran off towards the Yggdrasil Labyrinth's entrance. She spotted the two guards from her first day in Etria, this time stationed at the labyrinth entrance.

They noticed her and waved. They were quite fond of her after she paid them back the entrance fee for visitors. "Hey, Ms. Remilia. What're you doing up so late?"

"Are you going off to train at night too?" the other guard asked. "If so, your guild already left some time ago. Man, they must be pretty mean to left you here."

The first guard scratched his head. "Actually, now that I think about it, weren't you supposed to be resting after something about fighting a Reaping Shade?"

Remilia rolled her eyes. "Where... are they...?"

They exchanged glances "Your guild? I think, uh, one of the girls said they were going to be at the third floor." The guard blinked. "Now that I think about that too, isn't that where the giant mantises were?"

"...you don't think...?" the other guard asked.

The first guard shook his head. "Of course not. No one's that stupid." He turned back to his guest. "Anyways, I'm a bit worried, so why don't you...?" His eyes widened slightly when he realized Remilia wasn't even there now. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"She ran inside just now," the other guard replied. "Seems like she's in a hurry."

"Huh. Wonder what's got her and her guild so pumped up tonight?"

* * *

"Who the hell thought any of this was a good idea!?" Valeria shrieked. She jumped asides just as a scythe swung down above her, striking straight into the ground she had just been standing on. "God, if this thing doesn't tire soon, I'm going to drop first!"

"H-hang in there Valeria!" Scarlet yelled. She rushed towards the mantis from behind for the umpteenth time, but all that happened was her sword making a really small scratch on the giant insect's armor. It turned its head around to glare at her, prompting her to retreat as well.

Rin then ran into its sight, a finger aimed at its body. "I-it's body's too hard for my poison needle to prick it!" she informed her teammates as she shot an energy needle at it. The energy projectile simply disappeared after colliding with its hard exoskeleton.

"How'd Remrem even deal with this thing!?" Valeria yelled.

Scarlet's mind then flashed back to when they defeated the one-armed version, many days ago. "That's it! The head, it's the only unguarded area!"

"No, we know that!" Valeria replied. She then dodged another speedy scythe swipe. "The problem is it's too fast for us to get to that area!"

"We'd need to bind it..." Rin said. "B-but only Remilia can cast binding spells here!"

"T-then we're doomed!?" Scarlet said.

"That's not what I want to hear!" Valeria screamed. "Everyone retreat!"

Seeing its preys run towards the entrance of the third floor, the Reaping Shade snarled and started giving chase again. Its scythes attacks weren't hitting at all, to its frustrations, but to its delight their attacks were also ineffective against its armored skin.

Suddenly, Rin felt her body collapse. Her feet had tripped on some exposed root in the ground, and her body collided with the hard ground. "O-ow!"

"Rin!" Scarlet called. "Get up!"

The Medic blinked, before she looked back. The speedy monster was already right behind her, its scythe ready to pierce through her skull.

"Rin!" both Landsknechts yelled.

Feeling death was eminent, the Medic shut her eyes tight. "R-Remiliaaaa!" she called.

To their surprise, a familiar voice was what replied. "Stay... away!" Remilia yelled and pushed magic through her hand aimed at the monster, having quickly jumped off the stairs leading down to the floor. Various vines bursted from the shadows of the night, wrapping around the mantis' head. "Get the head!"

"R-Remilia!?" Scarlet said, shocked. The Hexer glared at her, prompting her to rush to the monster. "R-right! Valeria!"

"On it!" the brunette said with a grin. Their swords pulled, the two jumped towards the mantis. "Die!"

Having sensed danger, however, the mantis jumped backwards to dodge the swords that it assumed was in front.

"I-it dodged!" Scarlet said.

"No!" Remilia said and casted another binding curse. This time, vines wrapped around the mantis' legs, causing it to fall down on its sides. "Kill it!"

"R-right!" Scarlet ran towards the monster once more. Her blade struck its neck, piercing through cleanly. The Reaping Shade let out a scream of pain, its distorted voice interrupted by gurgles of insect blood. It must have quickly located where Scarlet was due to the sword's direction, as despite currently being blindfolded by vines, it raised its scythe and aimed it towards the Landsknecht.

"Not on my watch!" Valeria yelled and intercepted the attack with her own sword. Luckily, her blade hit the small opening revealing its arm's joint, causing the scythe to be cut off and fall near them. "Eat that!"

The insect howled with pain again. Its body squirmed violently, trying to free itself and hopefully escape. Being a gigantic lifeform, the thought of its limbs hitting the two wasn't pleasant, so they tried not to get hit by its flailing body. "G-god, it's still alive!"

"N-not any longer!" Rin said. Having ran up to them, she held her staff up high and brought the tip down on the Reaping Shade's forehead.

A sickening squelch later, it stopped moving completely.

The three withdrew their weapons and sighed with relief, Valeria plopping down on her butt to rest.

"That was wild," the brunette muttered. "I almost died. God, never will I fight these things again, until I get better swords."

"...you know, I think Shilleka was saying something about using its scythe to forget strong weapons just the other day," Scarlet remarked.

"Seriously? That's crazy," Valeria said. "She's crazy."

Rin gulped. "W-well, we should get the scythe for her then..." she said. Then, noticing Remilia standing afar, she ran over to her. "R-Remilia!"

"...Rin." _Is she still angry?_ the Hexer wondered. "Rin. I..."

"Um, thanks," the Medic interrupted. "That... just now... thanks for saving me," she said and bowed. "I'm sorry about... uh, what I said this afternoon. It was a bit... rude." She sighed. "B-but... but I do think that you're not trusting us a lot," Rin quickly said, and looked Remilia in the eye. "I'm sorry. I'll try my best not to be a hindrance, so... please, rely on us a bit more."

Staring back, the Hexer felt a bit... odd. Something was poking at her from the inside of her mind, and she wasn't sure what it was that would be caused by looking her teammate in the eye. But it was there, and it made her feel terrible. _You're trying her best already..._

To their surprise, she lowered herself at an almost perfect right angle. "I'm sorry."

"R-Remilia!?" Rin exclaimed.

Valeria stopped cutting plates from the mantis corpse. "What's this about now?"

"...I'm sorry," Remilia repeated. "I'm a... horrible guild leader."

"No, no, Remilia," Scarlet said, "you're not a horrible leader! Don't say that..."

"I don't get it," the Hexer said. The others exchanged confused glances. "I... I still don't understand. But... but I know you're not weak..." she rasped. "I can't... promise anything. But I... I have to reach... him, no matter what." She then, shocking the others even more, got onto her knees and lowered her head. "So... so don't leave... please..."

The others blinked. "...wait, why would we leave?" Valeria asked.

"You haven't actually been that bad," Scarlet said.

Remilia looked up. "...so... not leaving...?"

She was then hugged by the Medic, who had remained silent out of respect. "No, stupid. We're not... we won't leave you over that." She gently caressed the Hexer's hair. "Remilia, you'll try to trust us, and that's all that matters. Um, I think I speak for the others too when I say this; you're our one true leader, Remilia."

"Yeah, we were never that interesting to others," Valeria said, "until you came and made a guild and brought us all in. You're fine, boss girl."

"Just as you say you need us," Scarlet began, "we need you too. Everything will be fine, so... let's keep doing what we do, okay?"

The Hexer had no idea how to respond to her teammates, so she did the one thing she did best- nodding wordlessly.

And as she realized how less complicated things actually were, the girl smiled slightly and returned the warm embrace from her teammate.

"...thank you."


	10. Their Night Together

"Let's head back to the mansion!" With Rin's suggestion, the group made their way back to the shared mansion in the corner of Etria, near the middle of the night. And to Remilia's confusion, she was dragged into Rin's room just as they went up the stairs. "We're going to have a girls' night tonight, silly!"

What Rin wanted was to get to know the girl better.

Being the gloomy, quiet girl simply wouldn't do her any good, the Medic thought. That was why, since she seemed like she'd never do something for her own sake, Rin decided to take her friend's girly power into her own hands. "I'm going to help you experience more of life!"

"...Scarlet and Valeria... are girls too," Remilia asked, puzzled by why they weren't included.

"...never mind that," Rin said. The girl wasn't sure how to say it was only Remilia who probably needed this, without sounding like a total weirdo. "You are going to sleep with me tonight, and we can talk about many things!"

"...okay."

Rin blinked. Then she turned red. "W-wait, well, I didn't mean sleeping together like that! I, uh, I meant-"

The Hexer tilted her head, confused.

_Ah, she doesn't get it._ Rin sighed and waved it off. "N-never mind. Let's get on the bed." It was either a display for the family's wealth, or some sort of convenience, but all individual rooms' beds were large enough for two (or three?) people. As Rin waited for Remilia to (hesitantly) get under the sheets, she briefly wondered if Remilia even knew anything about the adult parts of life at all, considering she didn't understand innuendos. _Ah, I... Scarlet will teach her later._

After crawling in after, she turned to Remlia. "So. Um. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Remilia stared. "...not sleepy. ...but I'll try."

"W-wait, stop. Not yet," Rin said. "Girly talk comes first. You seem like you've never interacted with someone more than just greetings."

_...is that bad?_ Remilia asked inside her head, and nodded.

"God, how have you been living?" The orange haired girl chuckled. "Um... let's see. We could talk about our pasts..." She felt the girl tense, so she shrugged. "...but I guess you wouldn't want that. Then, uh... what sort of things do you like, then?"

The Hexer looked up at the ceiling. "...singing."

"Y... you like to sing?" Rin asked. "That's... a bit surprising. I didn't expect you'd like something like that... but that's good!" She smiled. "What if you sang for me?"

"No." The refusal was immediate, to her amusement.

"I mean, maybe later, one day when we're a lot closer. I hope that's fine with you."

"...maybe."

The girl nodded. But that was one damn short conversation, something she sighed mentally at. "...well, I guess that's that. Then, let's see... is there anything else you like?" she asked. "Say, certain food, or certain monsters, or... anything. Cute clothes, good books, anything."

Remilia pondered for a while. "...the local bakery... is nice."

"Is that... the Denali Bakery, or the Ganges Bakery?" Rin asked.

"...Ganges Bakery," Remilia replied.

"Oh... I think I've only went to the Denali Bakery before," Rin said. "Guess I got too attached to it to visit other bakeries."

The Hexer blinked. "...Ganges Bakery... makes good bread." She then looked to Rin as if demanding her visit. "Really good."

"O-oh, I see." The Medic gulped. _Guess I'll go there later._

"..." She felt the Hexer stare hard at her.

"W-what is it?" Rin asked.

Remilia frowned. "...Valeria told me," she said. "About... you."

_She did?_ The orange haired girl smiled. "What did she tell you? I hope nothing crazy, haha."

"...you... got no parents," Remilia said. "...where did you... come from?"

"...ohhhh." The girl chuckled. "Uh, Remilia, when someone says someone doesn't have parents, we mean that their parents passed away," she started. "What Valeria means is that I had parents, but they... unfortunately, passed away. I'm still Etrian, silly."

The Hexer blinked. "...oh."

Resolving that, Rin looked up as well. "Hmm... Remilia, should I tell you about myself?" she asked. "I feel it'd be unfair to wait for you to feel comfortable with talking about yourself, when I haven't told you anything about myself yet."

"...okay..."

"So... I used to live with my parents, when they were alive, of course.

They were really kind people, I really loved them from the bottom of my heart. I didn't know much about the world though, I was really young back then- and I was definitely quite the naughty kid, I think. I faintly remember many instances where my mom had to stop me from doing something, scolding me while my dad tried to calm her down and laughs sheepishly.

I think... those were probably when I was happiest, messing around and being with them.

...actually, there's not really much for me to tell. It's just plain stuff.

But... well, before I go on, I think my mom and dad were a rather well-known guild. They work as a two-person guild called... Plus Five, I think. I never really knew why they named it that though, or maybe I asked before and I forgot. But yeah... Plus Five.

They were a guild of two Medics, but they had experience in many other classes and techniques as well. That's why they could manage.

One day they left to explore more of the labyrinth... I think they actually got as far as some sort of a blue forest, but they wanted to discover the entire place before reporting to Radha, so they never bothered updating the maps... at least, I think that's what my dad said.

So yeah. One day they left to explore some more, but... they never returned.

From what I heard, their bodies weren't ever even discovered.

After that... I went to live at the orphanage, I guess. Scarlet and Valeria were orphans long before me, too, so I got to know them and... we got along quite well.

From time to time I still think of them, my parents, but I can't really remember that much anymore... guess I was too young, maybe.

Scarlet and Valeria are the same. They don't seem to mind their parentless state that much now, we all just... sort of get along and keep with the times. I think they're also, especially Valeria, looking forward to work with you. Valeria's always a weird girl, but she's been especially crazy around you.

O-oh, sorry, right. My story. What else? Um...

...actually, that's... pretty much all there was to say.

Sorry, that must've been a boring story. You can just ignore me, Remilia.

...Remilia?

...huh," Rin paused and smiled. The Hexer was already asleep, almost seeming so vulnerable that one would doubt her identity. The Medic smiled and pulled the cover a bit further up, properly making sure her leader was warm and comfy. "Guess I droned on a bit too much," she said and chuckled.

Then a yawn escaped her own lips.

The girl sighed and went back under the sheets. "Oh well. Good night, Remilia." She gently petted the Hexer's head. "Let's become a great guild together."

She drifted off to sleep few minutes later.

...

...

"...I'll try my best..." Remilia whispered.

* * *

Scarlet and Valeria looked around. "...they're not here yet?"

"Like I said, we should've just woke them up," Valeria said.

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Come on. They looked so content, you might as well as have left them to their own dreams."

"True, true." Her friend looked back at the mansion. "Especially the boss girl, she looked like Rin's the first friend she ever had in... I dunno, ages."

"...is that them?" Scarlet asked, noticing two figures coming from the mansion's directions. They were the guild's leader and Medic. "Yeah, that's them."

The two Landsknechts waited for the other two to reach them. They noticed Remilia hesitating a bit, prompting their curiosity.

"What's the matter, Remrem?" Valeria asked.

"...I... I'll be..."

Rin smiled and patted the Hexer's back. "Come on, Remilia."

The girl narrowed her eyes at the Medic, but turned back to the two swordswomen regardless. Struggling to say something, the two briefly wondered what she wanted to say when she bowed courteously. "I-I'll... be in your care."

"...well, that's new," Valeria whispered.

Scarlet scoffed and elbowed the brunette, then smiled and pulled Remilia back up. "You're being too polite again, jeez." Chuckling, Scarlet petted Remilia's head and pointed to the labyrinth. "That's our line. Take good care of us, guild leader."

Remilia seemed a bit surprised by this, but ultimately she smiled and nodded.

"I'll... do my best..."

* * *

**That's the end of Part 1. It was getting hard to write this as I went on, as we felt following a direct game play-through would be quite bland, something the original author HanaReiGirl attempted in the first two writes of the story. That's why, after some discussion, we've decided to go down this route. The recent chapters were a bit rough though, so this was the best we can offer here.**

**Now, we'll be doing a slight time skip and head on to Part 2... which in-universe takes place a good two weeks after, but from outside perspective will continue right after Fenrir's defeat. We'll also finally be adding the missing Ronin character, Senna. Here's an after-the-end scene.**

* * *

A girl roamed under the dark green leaves, making sure not to get caught up in the vines hanging everywhere. She had one hand on her sheathed sword, ready to pull it anytime.

Then, the leaves behind her rustled. The girl quickly turned and pulled her katana slightly. "Who goes there!?"

A second later, a huge bear jumped out with a fearsome roar, its bulging muscles twitching with what seemed like killing intent, claws ready to shred.

Blinking, the girl chuckled. "Oh, it's just you. What're you doing here, you big lug?" she asked.

The bear scratched its head and let out a reply- a simple growl.

Nevertheless, the girl seemed to understand. "I see. That happened, huh?"

Another growl. The girl shrugged.

"Oh, nothing much. Just patrolling around the jungle." She smiled and bowed courteously. "After all, you never know what you might find around here. It's my duty to keep everyone safe."

The bear looked towards the distant, narrowing its eyes at a small hole in a fat tree with stairs leading up to who knows where.

"Hey, it'll be fine," the girl said and petted the bear. "After all, I have this small feeling that something good's going to happen really soon..."

Another growl. It was filled with slight doubt, but more happiness from the gentle caress.

"Yep. I'm sure something good's coming our way, big guy."


	11. P2) Fall of Fenrir

Legends has it that amongst the terrifying pack of wolves, there was one individual who commanded them all. With a shiny blue mane and a fierce abnormality in its strength, it earns the respect and loyalty of all the other wolves and leads the pack during their wildest hunts. Although nobody had encountered it so far, many says that those who met it had never returned, nor were they ever heard from again.

Fenrir, people called it. The savage would show no mercy to even the weakest of adventurers, viciously tearing them from limb to limb with its jaws, unleashing a bloodbath entirely around its feasts. They say its fangs are imbued with the ice element, not only being able to tear one to pieces but also comes with the ability to spread its absolute power through its roars alone.

No beginning guild would ever be able to move and escape in time had it ever heard its mighty cries.

But, alas, some guilds are more experienced than others. Through various hardships or experience and training, through many deadly encounters with the scariest of beasts, they have grown immune of such a trivial thing. Verbal war cries are just that- voice.

And one such guild was Mortem. In the two weeks they spent after a slight falling out, they've trained together through various creatures of the labyrinth, collecting and selling materials and getting improved equipment.

What are they doing right now, though?

Why, facing off against a certain legendary wolf, that's what.

"Rin! Flash Bomb!" a swords-wielding brunette exclaimed.

The staff-wielding Medic who stood a slight distance behind the group nodded. "G-got it! Catch, Valeria!" she replied and threw an odd, mysterious orb to the girl.

Before she could catch it, a loyal wolf intercepted it and caught it in its maw.

"Crap! It recognizes it now!" Valeria cursed.

"Not if I can help it!" a nearby axe-wielding redhead yelled, throwing her weapon at the wolf. It dodged with ease, but hadn't taken the orb for account, unfortunately allowing the axe to miss its jaw and hit the orb instead. The orb then let out a bright flash of light, to which blinded all the wolves around, including the one holding it who had just dropped it and failed to cover its eyes in time.

"Alright!" Valeria cheered. "Good going, Scarscar!"

"Now's not the time for nicknames!" Scarlet replied. "Remilia! Turn them to stone!"

"Mmn!" the Hexer standing next to the Medic nodded and maneuvered her way through the room of temporarily blinded wolves. She raised her hand to each target and unleashed a specific type of magic into their bodies, turning their skins and furs to stone one by one. A few managed to sense her and ran in varying but opposite directions to avoid her, but a good number of the pack had still been rendered immobile. She clicked her teeth. "Sorry..."

Her teammates smiled. "No, you're doing good!" Scarlet reassured. "We only have three left to go!"

"Four, if you count the big bad wolf!" Valeria corrected.

The blue maned beast, whose vision had recovered unnaturally faster than the others, roared with rage and lunged towards the Hexer.

"Remilia!" her teammates called. She narrowed her eyes at the wolf, then nodded and turned around, throwing her staff at the feral beast. It stopped to swipe it away with its claws, but by then Remilia was a fair distant away. She ran back to Rin, as Scarlet and Valeria took her place and ran towards their enemy's leader.

"Eat shit, doggy!" Valeria screamed and jumped towards the wolf, her sword prepared to strike.

Suddenly, an underdog was right next to her, about to pounce the brunette. Scarlet, who had reacquired her axe, bit her lips and threw her shield at the wolf to fend it off of her friend. Then she resumed her plan and threw her axe once more towards Fenrir.

It howled and leaped sideways, avoiding the attack that might have killed it.

Meanwhile, surprised by the sudden impact of a shield being thrown at it, the lower classed wolf wasn't prepared to fend itself from the brunette's attack, the girl having adjusted her aim. Its head was cleanly lopped off, and its body fell limp, joining its petrified comrades in losing its usefulness to its king.

The Fenrir snarled and looked to its other side, expecting its final remaining wolf capable of combat to kill the girls, but instead it saw the wolf's body collapsed and glowing an odd shade of green. Fenrir snapped its head towards where it sensed a poisonous energy from, landing its sights on Rin, whose hand was aimed at its formerly living comrade.

"N-no more wolves!" Rin informed the others.

"Good going! I love your Toxic Injection skill!" Valeria cheered.

"Don't get your hopes up now!" Scarlet said. "We still have Fenrir!"

The Fenrir howled once more, then prepared its fangs as it charged towards the group.

They braved themselves as it neared them, readying their weapons for a last blow. The wolf's king leaped off the grass and opened its icy jaws wide, looking down on these humans... or at least, it thought it did, until its head collided with the ground. Confused, its eyes looked backwards and noticed various thorny vines wrapped around its hinds. It growled and glared fiercely at its next attacker, the cloaked Hexer.

"Alright! Remilia's got it binded!" Valeria said. "Let's finish this!"

"Already on it!" Grabbing a spare sword from her belt, she rushed towards the subdued wolf along with her partner. "Take this!"

"Valeria Ultima!"

"Scarlet Finisher!"

Their blades struck deep into the wolf's screeching head, causing a violent spray of blood to attack them. They covered their eyes and tightened their grip on the weapon, waiting for the blood fountain to subside. Soon, it toned down and they were left standing in a huge puddle of wolf blood.

"Wooo! Now that's what I call a grande finale!" the brunette cheered.

She offered a high five to the redhead, who rolled her eyes but smiled nevertheless and returned to clap.

They turned around and grinned at the Hexer and Medic, who smiled and nodded, equally proud.

"...but wait, what was with those names you just shouted?" Rin then asked, an eyebrow raised.

Scarlet, whose face was already stained with the wolf's blood, looked away and presumably blushed from embarrassment. "I... got caught up in the moment..."

"I-it's a cool finisher name!" Valeria said. "Don't you dare deny it!"

Rin and Remilia exchanged glances, then chuckled. "If you say so," the Medic replied.

The three laughed and started to dissect the wolves' bodies, starting from Fenrir's.

Remilia leaned down to the wolf and stared into its non-moving eye.

"...wow, it looks eerie with its eyes open," Valeria remarked.

"Just close it or something," Scarlet said. The Hexer nodded and gently closed the dead wolf's eyes, trying not to mind the huge gash across its face.

"...sl..p, Sn..d..ft..."

"You say something?" the brunette asked.

"Mn. Nothing."

* * *

"They did it again, those girls!"

"I heard they not only decimated the Fenrir, they didn't even leave any of its subordinate wolves alive!"

"Ruthless! I bet when they're done with the labyrinth, there won't even be dust left of it!"

Rin grimaced. "Um, these praises are steering a bit towards a weird direction..."

"Ah, who cares?" Valeria said and held her mug up high. "Cheers to us, the absolute destroyers of the labyrinth!"

"S-she's making it worse..." Turning to her other Landsknecht comrade, the Medic frowned. "Scarlet, do something..."

To her surprise, the redhead's face was flushed red. "Uh... huh... what'd you, uh, say, uh...?"

The orange haired girl shook her head, unbelieving. _She's drunk!_ Then she glared at Scarlet. _Wait, I thought you said we shouldn't be drinking!_ Sighing, she turned to her last hope. "Remilia..."

Remilia stared at her, a mug in her hand. "..."

"Y-you too!?" the Medic exclaimed.

"...juice," the Hexer replied.

"O-oh. Okay..." Rin sighed again, this time in relief. _At least she's still responsible._

"Hey now, there's nothing wrong with getting a liiiiittle bit drunk during a celebration," the publican Valerie (not Valeria) said as she briefly went to their corner. "I mean, Valeria and Scarlet already seems to be having the time of their lives. Why not loosen up too?"

"Um, you're not supposed to encourage this at all, Ms. Valerie..." Rin deadpanned.

The older brunette stifled a laugh. "Well, whatever you say, Rin. What about you, Remilia?"

"...no thanks," said girl simply replied.

"Man, you two are killjoys."

They heard a loud bang from across the room. "Lady, one more cup!"

"On it!" Valerie replied, then smiled at them. "Welp, sorry for the short chat, girls. Gotta keep the pub going." She left to tend to other customers.

Sighing, Rin glanced at Remilia. "Still, I'm actually surprised at our progress."

"...pretty slow," Remilia remarked.

The Medic chuckled. "Stupid. Looking at it generally, it is pretty slow, yeah. But hey," she paused and spread her arms, "the Fenrir is that strong and deadly! And we defeated it, despite it not having even been a month since we formed our guild! Isn't that pretty amazing, actually?"

"..." She wondered. Was it really that amazing? Or rather, has it really not been a month yet? The girl racked through her memories. In the first week of their guild, they had already been assigned a mission to dispose of a powerful but weakened mantis monster, then in their second week, she solo'd a non-weakened giant mantis. The end of their second week had them join together to defeat another one, too, and they started getting more serious. Their third week was filled with more mantis hunting, and eventually, wolf hunting, per orders from Radha.

She blinked. It had only been a bit over three weeks. Looking back on their progress, having defeated a terrifying and legendary wolf within their third week was indeed impressive. Remilia eventually nodded, admittedly awed as well- not that it showed on her face.

But Rin probably saw through her anyways, as she chuckled along her agreement.

"Say, tomorrow, what say we spend some time at one of the bakeries together?" Rin asked. "...I mean, after some more adventuring, of course. Or before, if you don't mind."

She almost laughed when she saw Remilia stare at her excitedly, very much fascinated by the idea. "Bread... for breakfast..."

"...well, that settles it then," Rin said with a smile. "Tomorrow morning, before we head off, the Denalis' bakery!"

"...Ganges' bakery.."

"...uh," the Medic rolled her eyes, "sure, it doesn't really matter. If that's what you prefer." She chuckled again at the Hexer's nod, slightly amused. "You sure love your breads, Remilia."

"Bread... is good."

They smiled and clicked their non-alcoholic beverages together, taking some more sips.

Then, from the corner of their ears...

"Hey, did you hear? Some guild just returned from the sixth floor."

"Oh yeah. I heard it was like... a whole new place! A jungle or something."

"Well, after Mortem viciously destroyed Fenrir, of course anyone wold jump at the chance to go below the fifth floor."

Rin sighed. "Looks like they think we're savages during the Fenrir thing... it's funny but, um, weird. What do you think?"

Remilia shrugged. "...don't mind."

"Of course you wouldn't care at all..." the Medic sighed. She resumed her eavesdropping.

"Right, back to what I wanted to say... I hear they found a girl wandering alone in this new place."

"Oh, that? Something about a katana-wielding samurai, right?"

"Yeah, that. Apparently she comes out of nowhere and chats with them, and disappears afterwards."

"I heard she obstructs some people from killing monsters. Weird."

"Is she even real though? So far we haven't seen anyone like that."

The two exchanged glances. "A girl in the labyrinth...?" Rin whispered. "That... uh, I'm not sure what to think of that..."

"..." Remilia didn't say anything and looked into her cup. "...lia..."

"Did you say something?" Rin asked. "...do you know something about this girl?"

She looked back at the Medic. Initially she was going to reply with a 'no', as she had some faint ideas to who it could be, but throughout the recent days, she had come to get along better with her teammates, especially Rin, and didn't want to cast doubt nor a lack of trust on them again. So... "...I'm not sure yet," she replied.

"Oh... but I guess you do have ideas, huh?" Rin said and looked up. "Well, at least that's that."

Appreciating her considerate act of not prying further, Remilia smiled. "...thanks."

"H-huh? For what?"

"...it's nothing."

The two stared at each other for a while, before Rin looked away, feeling slightly awkward. Remilia, on the other hand, shrugged and glanced to where Valeria and Scarlet were. The two had traveled to the counter, completely smashed and drunk, laughing with other equally intoxicated customers of the pub.

"...I think we should head home now," Rin said as she sighed helplessly at the Landsknecht duo. "Before Ms. Rosa gets upset we ate here instead... or even scarier, Mr. Simon might lecture us on our obviously underage drinking..." Noticing the Hexer's stare again, she sighed. "Uh, well, there's not actually any age limit here, you see. It's kinda more like... uh, just a passed down moral thing? Nobody under twenty is allowed to..."

"Not that," Remilia interrupted. "Valeria's... getting crazy."

Blinking, Rin turned to the brunette and saw her getting on top of the counter, raising her cup wildly. "Ah! H-hey! Valeria!"

"I'm gointa shjow duh world my powar!" Valeria yelled. This earned the drunken praise of her redhead comrade and several other heavy drinkers, all screeching and roaring with laughter.

The older brunette, Valerie, shook her head. "On second thoughts, maybe Rin had a point," she said and chuckled with amusement.

Rin went to grab the younger brunette and pulled her down. "U-um, we're heading back to the mansion now. Okay?"

Valeria pouted. "B-but... but Rinnnnnuh! I'm still... I can kheep goinnnnuh..."

"Y-yeah, she... she cannnn!" Scarlet wailed.

Remilia grabbed the redhead and, along with the Medic, pulled the two out of the pub. "Bye," she said to the publican waving to them.

"W-we're sorry about this," Rin added.

"It's fine, it's fine. You young'uns go enjoy your youths now," the older woman said.

As they headed towards their shared mansion, Rin looked to Remilia and laughed. "These two sure get crazy, huh?"

The Hexer nodded. "I guess."

"...just to make sure, we're definitely going to the bakeries tomorrow morning, right?" Rin then asked.

Remilia nodded immediately. "Bread."

At that, Rin lost it and laughed. "Oh, Remilia. These two are weird, but I think you're the weirdest of the bunch!"

"...am not," the Hexer muttered.

"Hey, I think it's fine." Rin scratched her cheeks and then awkwardly petted the Hexer. "I think you're a bit cute the way you are."

Remilia stared, unsure how to respond to that.

Rin then turned a bit pink. "W-well, I'm not, uh, implying anything else, really," she quickly defended. "A-anyways! Let's, uh, hurry and bring these two home."

"...alright." Wondering what that was all about, the Hexer continued alongside the Medic, while ignoring the snickers from the Landsknechts they were dragging.

To be honest, she was starting to enjoy this life of hers.


	12. The Ganges Bakery

She stood in complete darkness. Her sense of distance was lost, and no matter how far she searched, there were no signs of anything around her. Remilia didn't need to know what was happening, however- it was a dream. It was a mysterious, terrifying dream and she knew it was a dream. Unfazed, she stared straight at what seemed to be empty space.

Then an eye the size of her body opened directly in front of her. The pitch black sclera ironically glowed within this dark space, and a yellow iris moved slowly with the most sickening noise she had ever heard, until it landed on her.

Then to its sides, six more eyes opened and looked down upon the sight of the Hexer, with normal white scleras and black irises, but it completely lacked interest.

Remilia stared back, somewhat unnerved by this. "..."

"..." Both sides stared at each other, not responding to a single thing.

Then, her eyes blinking, she was met with the sight of her bedroom's ceiling, mainly obstructed by Rin's face. "Remilia?"

The girl stared. "...Rin."

"You weren't waking up, so I let myself in... uh, sorry." The Medic crawled off the bed and, out of habit, dusted herself. "...a-ah, just now, I'm not implying that you're dirty, it's just... uh, habit. Um."

"...mn." Remilia didn't particularly care though, so instead of even questioning her teammate about that, she pushed herself up. "Morning?"

"Good morning, Remilia," the Medic replied. "...oh, a question. Uh, yes, it's morning. A bit early, but the bakeries open soon."

At the mere mention of bakeries, Remilia ditched every thought in her head and noticeably perked up. She promptly hopped off the bed and adjusted her cloak. "Let's go."

Rin frowned. "...um, Remilia. I've been wondering, but... uh, don't you ever change clothes?"

"...don't have to," the Hexer replied. She was also personally comfortable with her cursed cloak, so she wasn't really seeing the need for the question, but it seems her partner had other things in mind. "...Rin?"

"No, uh, that's..." Rin trailed off. Another unsettling thought came to her head, prompting her to narrow her eyes. "Actually, Remilia, have you... well, of course you must have done it, but... um, when's the last time you got in a tub?" she asked.

To her horror, the girl tilted her head, confused. "Tub?"

"...uh, this isn't funny," Rin said. "A bath. When's the last time you took a bath or bought some new leisurewear?"

Remilia looked up, racking through her memories. "...bath... before coming to Etria," she answered, confused by Rin's growing horror. "Clothes... not needed?"

"...Remilia..." the Medic muttered. "I can't... you're serious?" The girl nodded. She buried her face into her palms. "Oh, jeez... this is bad. Alright, the bakery comes later!" she said, this time to the Hexer's (slight) horror. "Remilia, we're going out to buy some clothes for you to relax in first. And then I'm bringing you back here and giving you a good scrubbing!"

"But... bread breakfast..."

"No buts! This is for your hygiene!" Rin interrupted, her switch turned on. "If you want to still make it in time for opening and little to no customers, you better hurry up!"

Remilia frowned. "...but..."

"Aaahhh, I'll just drag you around," the girl finally said and grabbed her leader by the hand, running out the house, to the utter disappointment and confusion of the Hexer.

After an early shopping run and being dragged back home for a shower that she still didn't think she needed, with the help of Rosa (who seems to be awake all the time- does she sleep? Neither of them knew), Remilia found herself cladded with a cloak the opposite color of her initial one. Now wearing a white cloak with cute magenta linings in some areas, she looked like an ordinary city girl.

To Rin's surprise, the so-called 'cursed cloak' that most Hexers possess came off a bit too easily. In fact, it didn't seem to have any problems being apart from its owner. She eventually came to the conclusion that the entire notion of cursed cloaks being controllable and shadowy by their wielders was just a misconception.

She also came to the conclusion that Remilia definitely looked a lot better like this, rather than the gloomy image she previously gave.

"Ohmygosh. Remilia!" the Medic squealed. "You look absolutely adorable! Much better than before!"

Again, puzzled, she wasn't sure how to respond to that. "...this... weird," the guild leader whispered.

"Nonsense! I think you look a lot more approachable this way," Rin said. "Right, Ms. Rosa?"

Said purple haired maid nodded. "If I may, I agree with Ms. Oriole's perception. You look splendid, Ms. Remilia."

"...mn." Examining herself in the dresser's mirror, she tilted her head. _Well... it doesn't look bad..._ Then she turned to Rin. "Rin. Bread."

"...o-oh, right." The Medic turned to Rosa. "Ms. Rosa, we'll be going to the Ganges Bakery for breakfast, so no need to prepare anything for us this morning!"

"I understand," Rosa replied. "Are Ms. Wren and Ms. Ibis going too? I shall-"

"No need," Rin said. "It'll just be the two of us!"

At this, the maid smiled. "I see. Please enjoy your date, then."

Remilia tilted her head. "Date...?"

The Medic rolled her eyes. "It's not like that, jeez." Sighing, she grabbed Remilia's hand and lead her out the house. "We'll be back soon!"

"Very well. Have fun," the maid replied. Before entering the mansion again, she sneaked a glance at the two. "My, how close."

* * *

They pushed the door open. "Hello, Mr. Ganges!" Rin greeted, but was instead met with not the sight of the store's owner, but two groups of two teens, each pair seemingly bickering with the other. "Oh... guess Mr. Ganges isn't here."

"Mn." Remilia didn't particularly care, instead eyeing the various types of bread on display with slight hunger.

Meanwhile, the four arguing teens were preoccupied.

"Up yours, jerk! Our stores' bread is better!" a long haired girl with blue hair yelled.

The opposing side, a blonde girl with equally long hair, scowled. "Yeah, right! You can't even bake any of them yourself, I bet!"

"W-what's that got to do with anything!? My mom does it better anyways!"

"Unlike you, I help my dad! And mine's much better than your mom's!"

"No it isn't! Go close your stupid store!"

"Yes it is! You're the one who should close it!"

The two girls glared at each other, before turning to their presumed sidekicks.

"Robin! Tell her to close the Ganges brand!"

"Violet! Tell her to close the Denali brand!"

The blonde's partner, who was a short haired blonde boy, scratched his head. "Eh. But Ribbon... it's not like I own their store..."

Similarly, the blue haired girl's partner, a violet haired girl with messy and wavy hair, yawned. "Sorry, Aquiea... no can do."

The arguing girls, Ribbon and Aqueia, growled. "Stop being so useless!"

"Never mind that," Violet said. "Is it okay to keep yelling? Seems like we have customers..."

Eyes widening, the other three turned their heads to Remilia and Rin, who had already took their seats and was examining the menu, pondering what to order whenever the store's owner returned- completely ignoring the loud and otherwise cannot-be-ignored argument.

Exchanging glares, Aquiea and Ribbon ran over to them. "Welcome dear customers!" the blue haired girl yelled.

"Forget her! Leave this store!" Ribbon interrupted.

Remilia and Rin stared at them. "...uh... hello," Rin said. "Is the, uh... store owner, Mr. Ganges, here...?" She didn't particularly like talking with people she wasn't friends with, and especially loud arguing strangers who seemed unpleasant, so her voice came out a bit dully.

Aquiea smiled. "Oh, my dad's not here to serve at the moment. He's off getting something for my mom."

"Oh, you're Mr. Ganges' daughter?" Rin smiled and bowed. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Rin of the guild Mortem!"

"Hmm... haven't heard of that," Aquiea said, dismissing it rudely. "Well, anyways. I can take orders for now. I'm a great daughter after all!" She then noticed Remilia. "Oh, it's you. You come here often, don't you?"

Remilia nodded. "Ganges store... good bread."

The blue haired girl grinned. "You bet your behind we do!"

Next to her, the blonde scoffed. "Says the one who can't bake."

"You shut up, ugly!"

"Who're you calling ugly, ugly!?"

Rin blinked. "Oh, Ribbon! What're you doing here?" she asked, recognizing the blonde as the daughter of the Denali brand's owner.

Ribbon promptly pushed Aquiea away and smiled. "Oh, we're just here to check out our rival's terrible business," she said. "You know... the usual."

"Uh... okay." The Medic looked between the blonde and the blue haired girl. "...you two sure get along."

"We do not!" they both yelled simultaneously.

"Hi, Ms. Rin!" Robin, standing from afar, waved.

Rin smiled. "Oh, hi, Robin!" She turned to Remilia, who she assumed was confused, despite having the expression of someone who really didn't care for these people. "Remilia, this is Ribbon, and that's Robin, from the Denali Bakery store. They're the son and daughter of their owner."

Remilia stared. "...mn. Okay."

"Ha! She's not interested in your lame store, Denali!" Aquiea exclaimed victoriously, to the blonde's annoyance.

"W-well, so what!? We've got Rin who loves our store more than yours!" Ribbon retorted. "So that's one-one score, you haven't won yet!"

Violet yawned again, walking over to Rin. "Fierce competition, huh?"

Rin blinked. "Um... yeah."

"I'm Violet. Aquiea's sister." She pointed to the blue haired girl. "That's Aquiea."

"Aquiea... Violet... got it." Rin turned to Remilia again. "Did you get that, Remilia?"

"...mn." The Hexer nodded. _Not that I care._ She glanced at Aquiea, who seemed to be preoccupied by Ribbon's taunts. Thus, she turned to Violet. "...bread."

Said girl raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you want to order? Eh... I'm lazy." Met with the customer's own raised eyebrow, she sighed. "Alright, I'll take the order... stupid sis. What do you want?"

Remilia showed the menu and pointed at an option right away. "Garlic bread. Two."

"...you're ordering for me?" Rin asked.

"...you want?"

"Well... well, okay, I don't mind having that too. I'll order something else too though."

Staring at her, the Hexer turned to Violet. "Three. Garlic bread. Three."

_...oh, she's having two._ Rin felt slightly stupid, but brushed it off. She pointed to another option on the menu. "Um, I'll have this morning breakfast set, please."

"Righto... will that be all?" Violet asked.

Remilia nodded. "Mn."

Rin frowned. "Wait, aren't you going to order more?"

The Hexer tilted her head. "...no."

"...Remilia, you can't have just two plates of garlic bread as breakfast."

Aquiea briefly stopped bickering with Ribbon and turned her head to the Medic. "Oh, she always orders two plates of garlic bread when she comes. Not a big eater I guess."

Rin stared at her leader skeptically. "Remilia, that's not..." Speechless, she turned to Violet. "Make that two morning breakfast set!" She ordered, her instinctive caring switch turned on again.

"Righto," Violet replied once more. "I guess that's all."

"Wait," Remilia said with a frown, "I don't..."

"I'm going to make you eat healthy!" Rin interrupted. "As our leader, you need to take care of yourself better, so just take what I'm giving you, Remilia."

"..." The Hexer obediently sat back down.

Aquiea stared. "...scary," she muttered.

Robin sighed from afar. "Well, that's Ms. Rin for you," he said. "Really pushy when it comes to health..."

"Well, she's a Medic for a reason," Ribbon remarked.

"...say, Robin, Ribbon, shouldn't you two get back to your store?" Rin asked. "Your stores do open at the same time..."

The blondes exchanged glances, then ran towards the door. "Robin! Why didn't you say anything!?"

"But you said it wouldn't matter, sis!" Robin wailed.

When the two disappeared, Aquiea grinned triumphantly. "And that's my win!" she said. Turning to her customers, she pulled out a notebook. "So! Let me take your orders"!

They blinked. Violet chuckled. "Sorry, Aquiea. I already got that taken care of."

The blue haired girl collapsed to the floor, defeated. "Betrayed... by my own sister..."

"...tragic," Remilia said.

"No kidding," Violet remarked before heading behind the counter. "I'll give mom the order. You two wait and chat with Aquiea."

"Eh... okay," Rin replied.

In the following meal to come, Rin would get to know Aquiea some more while the girl tried to bribe her into giving information about the Denali Bakery, while Remilia simply listened in and nodded from time to time when the Ganges store owner's daughter made remarks about her. Violet would join a few minutes later while their mother was cooking in the kitchen.

On a side note, after the meal, Remilia felt way more satisfied than she ever did in prior visits. _Perhaps Rin does make some good points_, she figured.


	13. Beauty and Beasts in the Jungle

"Alright, gang! We ready to tackle this new forest!?" Valeria yelled.

Remilia, Rin and Scarlet stared at the brunette, not as enthusiastic. Remilia in particular yawned, getting a bit sleepy after a satisfying breakfast with Rin, and waiting for the brunette to wake up, which took a long while.

Valeria frowned. "What's with you lot? Where's all your enthusiasm?"

"Eh, it's not really all that special like you make it to be," Scarlet replied. "We're just exploring a new... uh, 'stratum'." The girl turned to Rin. "That's, uh, the term the chieftain is officially using to refer to the place now. The first five floors are now called, uh, Emerald Grove."

"...huh." Rin rubbed her chin. "...you know, now I wonder why my mom and dad didn't reveal the labyrinth's layouts to the others. They did tell me a lot before that they reached a third area... uh, stratum."

_That had nothing to do with what I said, but good question,_ Scarlet thought.

"Hey, don't go around making chitchat conversations and ignoring me," Valeria interrupted. "I said, are we ready to tackle this jungle!? Who's with me!?"

"U-uh, yeaaaah..." the two unenthusiastically cheered.

"I said, who's with me!?"

"Y-yeaah..."

Then she glared at Remilia. "Hey, boss girl, you can't not join in!"

Remilia blinked. "...yeeaahh."

"Gosh, she's even deader than you two," Valeria muttered. "What, did your date with Rin get you all distracted?"

"V-Valeria!" Rin hissed, turning slightly red. "Jeez, not you too! I keep telling you and Ms. Rosa, it's not like that!"

The brunette grinned. "Like what, pray tell, little missy?"

"You're going to get smacked one day," Scarlet muttered.

Remilia tilted her head. "...like what...?"

The Medic sighed. "It's, uh... you know. They think we're like that."

"...?" The Hexer showed no sighs of understanding.

"...oh no," Rin muttered. "Remilia, don't tell me..."

Scarlet gave the Hexer an odd stare. "Remilia, Rosa and Valeria thinks you and Rin are... you know... a couple."

Remilia stared. The others wondered if she understood now. Then... "...couple... of what?"

"Holy shit, this girl doesn't know," Valeria said. "Boss girl, are you actually really innocent?"

"...?" She had absolutely no idea what her teammates were talking about.

Rin sighed. "U-uh, don't bother... I'll explain to her later. We need to get going and explore that new place..." She turned to Remilia. "I'll, uh, tell you about it later. Okay, Remilia?"

The Hexer slowly nodded. "...okay..."

Scarlet smiled helplessly. "Jeez, you're like her mother now," she remarked. Ignoring Rin's embarrassed eye roll, she then examined Remilia's attire. "Still, though, that's quite a refreshing view. Never thought I'd see Remilia in anything other than her gloomy cloak. Pretty cute like this, too."

Remilia blinked. "Gloomy..."

Rin smiled. "Yeah! Removing the cloak was surprisingly easy and didn't give us any problems," she said. "But it had all the magic armor reinforcement we've placed, so we had Shilleka transfer the properties onto this one- I want her to stay more... not-gloomy."

Magic armor reinforcement was one of the most profitable business in Etria. Although being an explorer had its benefits and excitement, many minded their own appearance, and the idea of wearing armor entirely and looking similar to basically anyone else who buys the same equipment wasn't thrilling to many. They wanted to be unique, they wanted to be remembered throughout history while looking exactly how they think they'd look coolest- and so magic reinforcement was introduced to the world of exploration.

It's simple- powerful magicians and scholars work together to melt and convert a desired armor into magical energy, and then imbue it into a piece of equipment someone wanted to wear. That way, someone could buy a strong helmet and chain mail, and still wear a regular jacket while defending from monsters' claws and teeth.

Although people who use magical armor reinforcement used to be mocked for being 'weak-minded', it eventually grew to become something almost everyone appreciated and respected.

As Shilleka was the most well-known businesswoman who worked with equipment in Etria, she worked alongside the Radha's retired magicians and scholars to profit off of this alternative armor business as well as managing her own store.

Well, enough of that. Remilia nodded with what Rin said, while Scarlet simply whistled. "That sounds nice. At least I hope she doesn't overwear it like she did with the old cloak."

"Ehh... she won't. Right, Remilia?" Rin asked.

The Hexer stared. "...okay."

"Jeez, you two are inseparable," Valeria muttered.

"Valeria!" Rin hissed.

* * *

The group of four nervously took their first steps into the second... 'stratum', as Visil officially called it. It was still strange to many that after five floors, the labyrinth could change so much, despite how similar a jungle was to a forest. But the more they looked around, the more they could tell that this second area was much more dangerous, the eeriness a big difference from the lighthearted forest's atmosphere.

"C-careful, girls," Valeria called. "You... you never know what might jump out..."

Scarlet felt a bit amused by her friend. "Oh? What's this? Is the great Valeria afraid?"

"Like hell I am!" the brunette hissed. "It's just... it's just, you know! It's a lot more... creepy than I thought it'd be..."

"I think that, uh, that means you're a bit scared," Rin informed.

"Does not!"

The Medic sighed. "Why's she trying so hard to deny it, jeez..."

Valeria stopped. "H-hold on. Did you... did you girls see that?"

They took their first steps into the second stratum. It was quite similar to the first five floors, now officially dubbed by Visil as Emerald Grove, but was a lot darker in shade and feels more... eerie. The air felt a bit humid too, not that it was too weird for them. So far, some adventurers had made it to the second floor already, but the sheer deadliness of some giant clawed bears seemed to scare many into waiting for more well-known guilds like Mortem or Mastema to expand their map.

Speaking of Mastema, where were they? The four girls hadn't seen nor heard from Freya the Highlander's guild in almost a week.

Well... not that it bothered them too much. They knew the odd guild of five were probably much stronger than them anyways.

Back to more important things. Remilia looked around, taking in the view of the darker forest. "...hmn."

"What, are you feeling scared, boss girl?" Valeria asked with a grin. "I bet you are."

"...no," the Hexer replied, deadpanned expression on her face. Yet, the brunette kept her 'knowing' grin up, to her leader's slight annoyance.

"Valeria, you're going to be cursed by her one day," Scarlet muttered.

"It'll be fine, Remrem loves me too much to curse me! Right, boss girl?"

"..." Remilia decided to ignore the brunette and looked over to her Medic teammate. "Rin. Let's go."

Rin tilted her head. "Huh? Uh, okay. Sure." The girl walked ahead with the Hexer, to Valeria's chagrin.

"H-hey! You can't ignore me and leave me here!" she yelled.

Scarlet stared. "You still have me here with you."

"..." In a similar manner, she ignored the redhead and ran after her teammates.

"Hey!"

Scarlet chased after the girl to berate her on being a jerk, whilst from slightly afar Rin sighed helplessly and Remilia kept walking on without a care. The four eventually came upon what seemed to be a moderate-sized clearing, with few trees scattered about. "W-what happened here?" Rin whispered.

"Seems like a bear went wild," Scarlet answered and pointed to what she saw was a bear with ripped muscles and long claws, swinging its sharp weapon around. One slice was seemingly enough to send tall trees plummeting to the ground, sending normal birds and insects scattering somewhere else. "That's one strong bear."

"You can say that again..." Valeria muttered. "How many do you see?"

The redhead counted the bears in her vision. "I, uh... I'm seeing three."

Remilia, on the other hand, stared hard. "...four."

"Oh, really?" Scarlet gulped. "I don't think we can try fighting them here."

"...it's worth a try though," Valeria replied. "Remrem, strategy?"

The Hexer nodded and racked through her mind for ideas. She eventually came up with something. "..same as usual. Rin. Poison." The Medic nodded. "Valeria. Scarlet. Combat." The two nodded. "Me. Curses."

"Huh, simple like we always do," Valeria said.

Then her face darkened. "...watch out for claws."

"Don't need to tell me twice, boss girl." Valeria gripped her sword tightly and readied herself. They waited a few seconds, before the brunette jumped out her spot. "It's showtime, bitches!" she yelled.

"That idiot..." Scarlet whispered, before jumping out as well. "Let's do this!"

Rin frowned at two's yelling. "That was unnecessary," she remarked before following after. The girl aimed her hand at the closest beast and channeled magic through her palm. "Toxin Injection!"

Watching as a toxic energy blast hit the closest monster, with Valeria and Scarlet then jumping towards it while it was surprised, Remilia nodded to herself and ran out as well. Her hands held towards their opponents, she racked through which curses to use. "Hmn!"

She made her choice; pouring dark energy through her hands, vines erupted from the bear's arms and tightly restricted it around its back, preventing it from retaliating with its deadly claws.

From the corner of her eyes, the other bears immediately noticed them and roared, preparing to rush towards her teammates. Remilia quickly aimed her hands at the two and channeled more dark energy through her palms. "Hnn!" The bears' scleras shined for a second, before turning pitch black, to which the beasts became confused and, more importantly, blinded, losing all sense of direction and swinging their claws wildly around themselves.

The girl prepared to cast more curses and glared at the fourth bear in the back line, but frowned upon noticing it simply standing there and watching quietly. "...?"

"We're done with this one!" Scarlet's voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned briefly to see the first bear collapse onto the ground, blood gushing out from the sword and axe wounds her two Landsknechts inflicted onto it. Nodding, Remilia turned to one of the blinded bears and casted a petrification curse on it, rendering it immobile. Scarlet noticed this and smiled. "Got it! Valeria, onto the third one!"

"On it, girls!" Valeria yelled. "Rin! Paralyze them!"

Rin nodded. "R-right! Curare!" she yelled and shot out a yellow hued energy ball from her hands to the remaining blinded beast. It roared as its body suddenly stopped moving, claws stuck in the air. Rin noticed the fourth bear standing behind and frowned. "That one's not moving, but I'll get to it too, in case! Curare!" she yelled again after moving sideways to get better aim, and shot out the paralysis energy at the observing bear.

Suddenly, it roared and raised its arms, slashing at the energy ball and... reflecting it?

Their eyes widened as the ball was shot back towards the two rushing Landksnechts. Scarlet grunted as the ball entered her and rendered her immobile, her legs stopping in the middle of running.

"It's alright, I'll handle it!" Valeria reassured and continued her way towards the blinded bear. Then, the reflecting bear let out another roar, and as if the loud noise affected the others, the blinded bear started moving again, and the petrified bear suddenly broke out of a stone shell. The brunette's eyes widened. "Oh shit!"

She came to a skid to jump back, but the slightly wet soil made her slide a bit further instead, and to her horror, the two blinded bears' eyes have reverted to normal, and their claws were just about to swing down on her.

"Valeria!" Scarlet and Rin both yelled.

Figuring she would probably die, the brunette did her best to brace herself for the coming blows, hoping it would at least help even by a bit. She then found herself kicked away as Remilia took her spot, the latter who aimed her hands up at the bears and released dark energy to sprout vines from the bear's arms. It seemed to have been too late, however, as no matter how either girls saw it, the claws would hit the Hexer before being pulled back by the vines.

Remilia shut her eyes, waiting for the impact of the claws on her body.

"...halt!"

A lone voice echoed throughout the jungle. Miraculously, to the girls' surprise, the beats' claws stopped just above Remilia's head. The Hexer, shaking, opened her eyes and looked up. Al the bears' gazes were preoccupied by something to her right, so she followed their eyes and saw an unfamiliar girl walking calmly towards them.

"W-what the...who's she?" Valeria whispered.

"I'm not sure, but..." Scarlet replied and turned to the girl. "Thank goodness you're here. We were just-"

"Hold your tongue," the woman interrupted. She nodded to the beasts, all who quickly grabbed the body of the first beast and turned around, rushing away from the clearing. Then, the woman glared at the four girls. "Now then..."

"Uh oh..." Rin muttered, not liking where this was going, as the woman unsheathed her katana. She immediately recalled the rumors of a girl spotted in the labyrinth.

The woman pointed her blade just slightly below Remilia's chin.

"You have one chance to explain to me what you all are doing here."


	14. Temporary Protectors

"You have one chance to explain to me what you all are doing here."

The women's glare drilled through their minds, almost screaming the possibility that she'd show absolutely no mercy to any of them. Valeria gulped and opened her mouth, to which the woman quickly pointed her katana towards her, almost cutting Remilia's ear off. "Choose your words carefully, for my patience is very much low right now."

The brunette blinked. "Uh... look, we're explorers, and we're here to explore this... new area."

To her chagrin, that answer didn't seem to satisfy the mysterious woman, as her eyes narrowed scarily at the brunette.

"H-hold on now," Valeria added. "Let's not get feisty here... w-we were just getting rid of some monsters that were dangerous, until you came and... let them go...?"

"Those monsters," she hissed, "are the natural residents of this labyrinth. In fact, by all logical means, it is you people who are intruding, and should be eliminated."

"W-wait, please," Scarlet interrupted. "We, uh... we meant no harm though, we thought-"

"You thought nothing!" the girl interrupted in return. "I was observing from afar. You lot... you lot are no different from all those people wandering around our home." She scowled, turning her blade to the redhead. "Thinking you can intrude our habitat, killing off our people, taking from our bodies and returning for more... I am appalled by what I've been witnessing."

Rin frowned and took a step forward. "That's... that's not true. That's not how we are at all..." She froze as she found herself face to face with the girl's blade. "E-eep..."

"I stand by my words, by what I witnessed with my own eyes," the woman said. "Rather, you four are lucky I am calm enough to hear your reasons."

"Get... away from her," Remilia hissed.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "...or what?"

She stared back at the Hexer, neither side moving from their positions. The Hexer's white cloak wavered like a wisp for a while, a hostile atmosphere surrounding her. Seeing as the other seemed prepared to battle at any moment, Remilia closed her eyes. "...we'll stop," she said. "...for now."

"...wise," the girl replied and sheathed her sword. She turned around and sighed. "...if you people wish to hunt so badly, stick to the more... odd beasts," she said. "Don't hurt my people any longer. You are free to battle with slime, bees, or plant monsters."

"...slime?" Valeria muttered. "That sounds like... I dunno. The heck is that?"

"I shall keep an eye on you lot the next time I spot you," the woman simply said and walked away. She didn't even so much glance back at the group.

Scarlet gulped. "Are you sure about this, Remilia?" she asked.

"...she's strong," the Hexer replied. When given looks, she narrowed her eyes. "Intuition."

"I... I see." The redhead sighed with relief and picked up her axe. "I really wonder though, who was that?"

"I dunno about you girls, but seems like she's siding with the monster?" Valeria said. "I'm... not sure how that works either, but yeah."

Rin gulped. "I think... she's the rumored girl found in the jungle," she said. "Yesterday in the pub, I heard some people talk about her... she's exactly like they say she was..."

"I don't remember hearing no nothings about that," the brunette frowned.

"Yeah, because you were drunk!" Scarlet hissed.

"Uh, you were too, Scarlet," Rin pointed out.

"T-that was an accident!"

Remilia turned around and walked in the direction of where they initially came from. "Going back."

The others exchanged glances. "Already?" Valeria asked. "We've only been here for a few minutes."

"Need to... think about things," the Hexer replied.

Scarlet shrugged. "Well, I guess it would be better for us to discuss how to proceed, now that we have to keep in mind that woman's rules."

"Hmm... I think so too." Rin ran up to Remilia and followed her obediently. "Let's head home then."

"Mmn."

* * *

They went to the bar to relax some more, discussed their plans, and basically eavesdropped on others who by chance also talked about the mysterious lady. Then their day finished then and there.

The next day, Remilia was once again woken up to the face of her Medic teammate. She blinked a few times before getting up, Rin moving a bit away to let her do so. "Rin."

"S-sorry, you just looked so... quiet," Rin said. "...and again, you sure wake up really easily."

"...mn." The Hexer got up and tensed her body, as if stretching her arms. "...what is it?"

Rin blinked. "Uh... well, actually, it seems like we have some guests today." She counted her fingers, up to four. "It's, uh, Ribbon and Robin... and the Ganges girls."

Remiia's eyes seemed to sparkle with interest. "Okay."

"Hey, wait," Rin said and frowned. "You, uh, just woke up. You should shower first."

"..." The Hexer stared.

Rin's frown stayed. "...you did shower before you went to sleep, right?"

Unable to answer, Remilia begrudgingly went to grab a towel from within her closet. "...I'll take one now..."

The Medic smiled. "Good!"

Few minutes later, Remilia exited the second floor bathroom in a light pink cloak. She grimaced a bit upon seeing herself in a nearby mirror. Next time she ever get dragged by Rin to find clothes, she's going to have to seriously think about the clothes she end up receiving...

The girl walked down the stairs and saw Rin chatting with four other people. "Rin," she called.

"Oh, Remilia!" the Medic greeted with a smile. "You're done!"

"Mn." She ignored the looks from her guests and made her way to the ground floor, pondering where to sit.

"Sit here, Remilia," Rin said and gestured to the seat next to hers.

The girl stared before shrugging, reluctantly placing herself there. She then returned the stares of her guests- the two children of the Denali bakery, and the two children of the Ganges bakery. "...what?"

"Uh, sorry," Ribbon said, "it's nothing. Anyways, you mind hearing us out?"

"More like just you," Aquiea muttered. "Dragging all of us out here this early... sheesh."

"It's called not being an ass, jerk," Ribbon hissed.

Remilia blinked. _Scary._

Robin chuckled from the sidelines. "Sorry about this, um... Ms. Remilia. You know we don't exactly, uh, get along, as rival bakeries..."

"Stop blabbing to her," Ribbon said. "Anyways, uh, you. You're the leader of Mortem, aren't you?"

The Hexer slowly nodded, slightly curious where this was going.

"Right, right, totally expected that."

Aquiea scoffed. "You thought the Medic was the leader."

"S-shut up! Don't make me look bad!" Ribbon hissed.

The bluenette rolled her eyes and looked to Remilia. "Alright, so you see, this girl was thinking she wanted to become an explorer, and she can't wait because she's damn impatient!" Aquiea met with Ribbon's glare with her own. "So she wants to join you because she's stupid."

"I'm gong to smack you one day," the blonde said. "You're making it seem like I'm the one dragging you all along, but all of you here wants to be explorers too!"

"Yeah, when we're ready, you idiot!" Aquiea retorted. "We barely have any experience, and the most we've done is map the first floor to become an explorer, which is super lame!"

"That's why we should totally go into the second stratum!" Ribbon said. "And her guild can ensure we're safe while we train!"

Rin nervously laughed, getting in between them. "N-now, hold on, no need to fight over this..." she said. "Um, Ribbon, we appreciate you wanting to join, but we're not exactly..."

The blonde blinked. "No, don't worry, I just want some supervision, that's all! I'm not actually going to join your guild, Rin. I want to make my own guild!"

"Sounds like a disaster," Aquiea grunted.

"You're just asking for it today, aren't you?" Ribbon growled.

"N-now, now, no fighting," Rin said again. "Ribbon, I... well, I personally think it's a bit risky, but..." she trailed off and scratched her head. Then she turned to Remilia. "What do you think?"

The Hexer, who had been watching with barely any interest, took a sip from a cup of tea Rosa came and put down seconds earlier. "...mn. It's fine."

"R-really?" Ribbon asked.

Rin frowned. "The tea or Ribbon?"

"...it'll be fine," Remilia said.

The Medic sighed internally. She just remembered how laid-back Remilia was with essentially everything else unrelated to her goal. "Remilia..."

"Thank you so much!" Ribbon cheered and rushed over to the Hexer, grabbing her hand. "I knew you'd be understanding! I promise I won't let you down! Right, Robin?"

Contrary to her hopes, Robin seemed... less enthusiastic. "Eh... I dunno, sis. I... might also think this is a bit dangerous..."

"Robin, don't be stupid," Ribbon said, "of course it's dangerous. That's why we should totally do this, so we get better and it becomes less dangerous."

"...I mean, yeah, but..." The blonde boy shifted uncomfortably, to her chagrin.

Ribbon narrowed her eyes. "Jeez, fine! You're with that jerk too, aren't you!?"

"W-well, Ribbon, it's-"

"Excuse me!?" Aquiea hissed. "I'm just thinking rationally!"

"Whatever!" the blonde yelled. "You idiots can stay here and be scared forever then! I'm going to go with this girl and Rin, final!" She glared at her brother and her rival, before her eyes landed on her rival's purple haired sister. "...you're probably staying too, so whatever," she muttered.

Violet stared, her thoughts unreadable by the others. Then... "I guess I'll tag along too."

"V-Violet!?" Aquiea exclaimed.

She shrugged with a grin. "Someone's got to make sure she stays safe, right?" she said. "Besides, I might be getting a bit bored of working with bread everyday. Don't tell mom I said that though."

Aquiea narrowed her eyes. "Violet, are you stupid!? You're going to risk your life for an idiot, and just because you want to get out of working!?"

"Oh, you wouldn't understand it, sis," Violet chuckled. "But... I mean, yeah."

"Huh. Glad to see the sister is smarter," Ribbon remarked, earning a final glare from the blunette. She grinned and patted Violet's back. "Violet, right? Good! We're going to do so damn well on this!" She then turned to Rin and Remilia. "So! When are we setting off to the jungle?"

"H-huh?" Rin blinked in surprise. "Y-you want to go now?"

"Yeah! It's never too soon to fight some monsters and get stronger!" Ribbon looked to Violet. "Right, comrade?"

"Sure," the violet haired girl replied.

Rin scratched her head. "Well... uh... maybe later? Valeria and Scarlet are still sleeping..."

Ribbon shrugged. "Well, they can follow in after us later, can't they?"

"T-true, but-"

"No time to waste! Let's go!" Ribbon shouted and ran out the mansion.

Remilia and Violet exchanged glances, before quietly making their way towards the labyrinth as well, albeit less enthusiastically.

Rin frowned. "Uh... um... hey, wait... ah..." She turned to Aquiea and Robin. "I-if Valeria and Scarlet wake up, explain things to them please!" She bowed courteously and ran off in pursuit of her leader and temporarily new teammates.

"...what a bunch of idiots," Aquiea muttered. She then looked over to Robin, who offered a slightly troubled smile.

"Uh... hi. I'm Robin."

The bluenette growled. _Dear gods._

* * *

Hours later, the slightly different group was venturing through the jungle once more. They were having a bit more trouble with defeating monsters than before, however, as it turns out both Ribbon and Violet were Protectors, those who excel in boosting defenses and weren't as good as attacking like Valeria and Scarlet the Landsknechts were.

Of course, adapting to situations with new strategies was a given, so now Remilia was solely relying on Rin's poison techniques and her curses. The two Protectors do a good job distracting the monsters and protecting the team, but again, their physical strength was a bit flawed.

And as of currently, their situation wasn't exactly the best of the best.

Facing off against a tiger of sorts, Ribbon and Violet tensed as it struck their giant shields.

Rin watched from afar, worried. "Y-you know, I'm starting to also think this was a bad idea!" she said.

The blonde Protector looked back, rolling her eyes. "No it's not!" she replied. "We're doing fine!"

"It's just a few more seconds before the poison kicks in," Violet added with less volume. "Is Ms. Remilia going to help?"

Remilia nodded and tried to still her aim at the tiger. She was going to cast a simple binding curse, but the presence of another monster appeared behind her for the umpteenth time. She sharply turned around and casted a petrification curse upon a plant monster that had its maws wide open, prepared to bite into her. The plant monster turned to stone rather quickly, and she kicked it with such force that it broke to pieces upon contact- that or its body was extremely fragile.

"Too many monsters..." the Hexer rasped. "...keeps jumping out."

"Understandable," Violet replied. "Few more seconds I guess."

"How are you even so calm!?" Rin asked and decided to pour some paralyzing energy into one of many spare vials she brought with her. Previously, her paralyzing energy ball had been easily reflected by one of the mysterious woman's friend monsters, so she thought it'd be troublesome if it happened again. Upon consulting with her teacher Dr. Leabo, she decided to rely more on vials as them being shattered upon contact would prevent chances of it being reflected to her own teammate.

The Medic threw the vial of paralyzing toxins at the tiger, who recoiled a bit before finding itself unable to move its limbs. Then, the pain of venom catching up inside its body, it screeched and fell to the floor, unmoving.

Ribbon panted, before she smiled. "Another amazing victory! We are awesome at this!"

Violet chuckled. "Although our pace is rather questionable," she said.

"Ah, shove it. You know we're doing pretty good right now."

Rin frowned. "If you mean almost dying many times, I don't think so!"

Ribbon laughed. "Come on, Rin! That's what exploration's all about! Right, Ms. Remilia?"

"...mn." Whether that was an agreement or disagreement, neither of them knew, but the Hexer simply got to work with dissecting the tiger's and the plant monster's corpse. Violet joined her in her efforts soon after, to the disgust of Ribbon.

"Ugh, it still looks so nasty," the blonde said. "ow are you two so comfortable with this?"

Rin chuckled. "Oh, you get used to it the longer you stay in this field." She then peered at the body being harvested from. "...but I guess you're still right, it's kinda revolting."

"Rin. Bag," Remilia said.

"R-right." The Medic placed a second bag down and opened it. "...don't forget, the skin goes to the third bag..." she said, not wanting the bloodied tiger pelt to stain literally everything else with its blood. Remilia nodded and dropped several tiger fangs inside, then waited for Rin to open a third bag, soon letting the skin she cut off from the corpse drop into it. "Phew. We're doing slightly good, aren't we?"

"Mn. Guess so." Expression unchanging, finished harvesting from the tiger's corpse around the same time Violet finished plucking the petals off of the plant monster's corpse. "Continue?"

Ribbon smiled. "Of course! As long as we keep killing these, me and my comrade shall become extremely strong!"

"...my name's Violet," the other Protector said.

"Uh, right. Me and Violet will become unstoppable!"

"...mmhm."

Rin blinked, slightly curious about why Violet followed Ribbon in the first place, but shrugged it off. She looked around. "Well, I actually think we've been here for quite some time... maybe we should head back for now..."

"Nah, let's keep going!" Ribbon said. "In fact... hey, that's the stairs to the seventh floor! We should totally proceed!"

"Uh, Ribbon, I don't think that's..."

"Sounds good," Violet chimed. "I'm ready for that."

The Medic frowned more. "Uh, wait, Violet, that's..." She looked over to Remilia, pleading with her face, but the Hexer didn't seem to notice her as she was looking at the stairs curiously. "Remilia..."

Remilia perked and then looked at her teammate. "...let's go back," she eventually said.

"Whaaat? No, I don't want to..." Ribbon whined.

"Ribbon, come on..." Rin said. "We haven't even explored the seventh floor yet, it could get even more dangerous..."

"All the more reason to keep us safe, then," Violet said with a smile.

"Ugh... fine..." Knowing she can't change their minds without their best debater Scarlet, Rin resigned to the two's wishes and followed after them reluctantly down the path to the next floor. "Just know that you're in for deep trouble if something bad happens..."

"Relax, Rin, what could possibly go wrong?" Robbin laughed.

_A lot,_ Remilia thought but didn't reply.


	15. Venturing in the Jungle

Some time earlier, the two Landsknechts of the guild Mortem had just woken up and swiftly got themselves prepared for the day. By sheer coincidence, they exited their rooms at the same time, about to head downstairs to grab something light to snack on and get their weapons at the entrance.

"Mornin', Scarl!" Valeria chirped with an energetic grin plastered on her face.

The redhead was the opposite- still slightly tired and dazed. "Yeah... morning, Val..." she mumbled.

They headed to the stairs and walked down together. Upon reaching ground level, they noticed two unfamiliar faces sitting at the dining table, staring back at them.

"...pst, who're they?" Valeria whispered.

"I... dunno..." Scarlet replied. As her fatigue began to fade, one of the strangers, a blue haired woman, got up and bowed.

"Hi there. You must be... the other girls of the Mortem guild."

The two blinked. "Uh... yeah. Yeah, we are." Valeria pointed to herself. "I'm Valeria, and this here is Scarlet."

The other stranger, a blonde boy, bowed courteously as well. "I'm Robin Denali, from the Denali Bakery store just downtown. This is..."

"I'm Aquiea Ganges. Also from a bakery store. Ganges Bakery."

"...right," Scarlet muttered. "So, uh. What brings you two... here?" Then she looked around. "And also, uh. Have you two seen... these two other girls who..."

"Rin and Ms. Remilia?" Robin asked, to which the two eventually nodded. "It's alright, they've already woken up. We're actually, uh... here to tell you about that..."

"Wait, before you do that..." Valeria interrupted and rubbed her chin. "...sorry, I went to the Denali Bakery a few times so I know where that is, but, uh, where's the Ganges Bakery?" she asked. "...just wanted to know."

"Oh, come on!" Aquiea yelled. "How can you not know where the better bakery is!?"

Robin raised a finger. "M-maybe it's because our bakery is closer to the square...?" he suggested.

"Don't get smart with me, Denali!" Aquiea said. "We'll beat your store one day! Definitely!"

"R-right, sorry..."

"So, anyways," Scarlet interjected and cleared her throat. "What were you going to tell us? About Remilia and Rin?"

Aquiea and Robin exchanged glances. "Uh, right, so earlier..."

* * *

Rin held her breath as she peered around a slightly fat tree she was hiding behind. Far away, a huge elephant creature had stopped its rampage and slowly wandered away, towards a random direction. She let out a sigh of relief, before glaring toward another tree where Ribbon was similarly hiding behind. "Hm."

"O-okay, I get it, it was a terrible idea!" Ribbon hissed. "No need to stay mad, Rin..."

"Uh!?" the Medic voiced. "We could've died, Ribbon! If you hadn't noticed, that thing trampled over literally everything!"

"B-but we survived..."

"Not the point," Remilia muttered. She looked around one last time before determining it was safe to come out. The Hexer quietly walked out from behind yet another tree and relaxed a bit. "Safe."

Ribbon groaned. "Geez, give me a break..."

"Hey, at least we're safe now," Violet interjected in an attempt to lighten the mental stress of her blonde rival, when a nearby shrub shook and a yellow furred tiger jumped out. "Well-"

"No," Remilia growled and aimed her hand at the beast, immediately turning it to stone with the last remaining traces of magic energy inside her. The stoned tiger fell to the ground, unmoving, and the Hexer took her staff and pierced its stiff body with the tip of her weapon, breaking through both the temporary statue layer and the monster's skin. Sighing, she turned to the blonde Protector once more.

"I get it, we're not safe!" Ribbon growled. "Geez... worrywarts..."

Rin sighed as well. "Look, Ribbon, we get your excitement, but... um, you know. We should've went back while we could- but now we don't even know our way, and we ran out of ink to keep mapping the floor, so we might as well as pray for some sort of miracle to come by, otherwise we could just kiss our fates goodbye."

"Okay! It's my fault, no need to rub it in!" Ribbon snapped. "I already feel bad enough as it is..."

"Ribbon, it's not your fault, just... please listen to me next time, alright?" Rin asked.

"Fine..."

Patting the blonde's back, Violet looked around. "It'll be fine. I heard from some customers that there's a healing spring on the next floor."

"...there is?" Rin looked up.

Violet nodded. "Look, the stairs are over there. Supposedly the spring is somewhere close to the third... uh, eighth floor's entrance, so if we're careful, we can probably get to there and rest."

"Good," Remilia said. "Let's go."

"...wait, Remilia," Rin said. "I'm still not sure about this..."

Violet continued. "There's a twist though... apparently if you take a wrong turn you'll end up at some dangerous monster's territory..."

"Wait, how can you hear this from customers when we get more customers than you do?" Ribbon asked.

"We get fewer, but not zero," the violet haired Protector simply said.

"...hm."

The two original members of the Mortem guild looked to the stairs. "...do you think we can make it back to Etria?" Rin asked, slightly hopeful.

Remilia then glanced at the map of the seventh floor in her hands, one that she hadn't scribbled on for quite some time now as they had ran out of ink and didn't return to town due to a certain blonde's reluctance. "...maybe."

"...are the chances good?" Rin asked.

"...no... maybe."

"...we're going to head down onto the next floor, aren't we?" Rin deadpanned.

Remilia nodded. "Safest choice."

Groaning, Rin prepared herself for some more walking. "Alright, we'll go down and try to find that healing spring..." she said. Noticing Ribbon smile, the girl sent a glare at her slightly younger acquaintance. "I'm still going to have to talk to you about your decisions!"

"Aw... okay..." the blonde Protector whimpered.

Violet smiled. "It shouldn't be too bad."

"You too, Violet!"

"...oh well."

* * *

"You sure about this?" Valeria asked. "No matter how you look at it, it just reeks of suspicion."

"No, I asked Mr. Simon about it yesterday after we came back," Scarlet replied. "Apparently it's a sort of transporter area that has to do with... uh, magnetic fields, or something, and it can warp us to the floor right away."

"That didn't make any lick of sense to me at all," the brunette replied.

Behind the two, Robin and Aquiea exchanged glances repeatedly. "...are you sure about having us come with you?" Robin eventually asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we've only just became official adventurers recently," Aquiea said, "and not to brag or anything, but we don't have experience at all..."

"I don't think that's bragging at all, Ms. Ganges," Robin said.

"Well... yeah."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "Hey, your sisters took our members, we take you two. That's how it goes, fellas."

"What are you even competing with their sisters for...?" Scarlet muttered. "Anyways, I think I'm supposed to be able to choose a location once I'm inside the circle..."

"What does that even mean?" Valeria asked. "Is it, like, reading your mind to teleport you somewhere you want to go, or..."

"...oh, wait, wrong side of the paper." Scarlet flipped the notepad's page and examined the previous page's notes. "Okay, uh... oh, never mind, it's not so different. Right, you girls, step closer."

"This must look so weird..." Aquiea muttered.

The two stepped closer to the Mortem members, and suddenly, the glowing pink circle enlarged itself to include the newbie Protectors as well. "W-what?" Robin voiced.

"We've been recognized as a group, so it'll teleport us altogether at once." Scarlet looked at her notes again. "Right, so... it seems like I, the first one to step into the circle, will be able to choose where we are warped by stating one of the two linked locations..."

"Two, huh?" Valeria peered at the notes in her friend's hands. "One's the jungle, right? Where's the other one?"

"Uh... apparently it's the abandoned ruins near the outskirts of the town," Scarlet said. "But Mr. Simon told me that we're forbidden from entering it."

"Oooh, sounds scandalous. Let's go there!"

Scarlet glared at the brunette. "Val, no. Forbidden as in, _forbidden_ forbidden. Related to Radha's orders."

"...I still say we should-"

"Uh, shouldn't we hurry?" Robin asked.

Scarlet blinked. "...right. Let's go then." She looked at her notes one more time. "Let's go to the second stratum..." The girl mentally pictured a scenery of the jungle she once stepped foot into, hoping her inside vision's depiction of the jungle was accurate enough for this weird... pink teleportation... thing to recognize it. Suddenly, the area beneath their feet glowed and they felt themselves disappearing.

Their eyes shut tightly as white pierced through their eyelids.

A few seconds later, they felt slightly dizzy but the weird feeling disappeared from their heads. They opened their eyes and, to their surprise, they were standing within the premises of a dark jungle.

A familiar jungle for the two Landsknechts, in particular.

"W-whoa... we really did teleport!" Valeria exclaimed. "Scarl! That's... did you see that!?"

"Uh... yes. Yes, Val, I see it..." Scarlet muttered, equally amazed.

Robin and Aquiea, meanwhile, couldn't even find it in their minds to speak. The idea of teleporting had always been something fictional for them, asides from the rumor that some Alchemists can do something similar to that. The fact that teleportation was now real to them, and that they've just experienced what nobody else seemed to know of, figuratively blew their minds.

"Hey, you two! You alright?" Valeria's voice eventually snapped them out of it.

Aquiea blinked. "...y-yeah, I... I guess we're okay." She turned sideways to Robin, who started looking around in amazement. "Get a hold of yourself, stupid."

"R-right. Right. Sorry." Robin looked straight ahead. "So... uh, will we be exploring this floor...?"

"Of course," Scarlet said. "We need to meet up with Remilia and Rin. And your sisters, too." She looked ahead and tightened her grip on her axe. "As soon as possible, maybe, especially considering how much more deadly the creatures on this stratum is."

"Uh, let's see... Robin and Aquiea, was it?" Valeria said. "You two are good with your giant shields, right? We'll be depending on you two to intercept any attacks possible, then."

The two Protectors nodded, albeit still nervous. "A-alright, leave it to us."

* * *

"You know, for a floor, we haven't really run into anything dangerous yet," Violet noted. "I guess whatever that scary monster that set up a nest on this floor is, it must scare a lot of the other monsters."

"Uh... not sure if that makes me feel any better..." Rin muttered. "How far are we from the stairs?"

Ribbon looked behind, recognizing the twists and turns they took from afar. "Uh... not too far away, as far as I can remember," she said. "But if we go any further, I might start forgetting the route..."

The Medic sighed. "Okay then. Remilia, let's stop here," she said. The girl turned around, but then noticed a path that had a huge door at the end. "Uh?"

Remilia blinked. "...go in?"

"...are you sure?" Rin asked. "I feel like something's in there..."

"Maybe it's the healing spring," Violet said. "Might as well as take our chances, since we can't go back."

The Medic gave her an odd look, but sighed upon realizing the validity in that claim. It wasn't like they could return to Etria safely anymore anyways, so if they were lucky, they could regain that possibility with the rumored healing spring. She nodded and, together with the group, pushed the door open. They peered in to see a straight path towards who-knows-where.

Nodding, Rin took the lead along with Remilia and walked through the jungle's corridor.

They held their breaths, bracing themselves for any sort of ambush from the surrounding shrubs, the tension of a quiet passage growing intense.

Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a large clearing, where some tents were set up and they could see that someone's been camping there, but more importantly, a wide spring of water glowing mysteriously. "W-whoa..." Rin whispered.

"Sshh!"

The four blinked and, upon focusing their eyes on the lit up campfire, saw a certain blonde girl sitting alone.

"Ms. Frederica?" Rin said.

"The girl from the guild Mastema?" Ribbon said.

Frederica nodded, but put her finger to her mouth again. "Sshh!" she hushed.

The four exchanged glances, then quietly went over to her and sat around the fire. "O-okay, we'll be quiet." Rin looked around, noticing that the other residents of their shared mansion weren't here. "Where's, um, the others? Ms. Raquna and Ms. Freya and... you know."

"Simon and Arthur are off investigating the floor," Frederica said. "Trying to find a safe route around the Wyvern's nest."

"Oohh, so it was a Wyvern, huh..." Violet remarked.

The blonde Gunner nodded. "I'm here to make sure our things don't get stolen or destroyed."

Remilia blinked. "...the others?"

"Yeah, what about Ms. Raquna and Ms. Freya?" Rin asked.

Frederica turned a slight shade of red. "W-well..."

"Oh, hey, I think that's them," Ribbon said and pointed to a tent, where they could see a slight silhouette of two bodies. One had just gotten up, supposedly. "I think they just woke up."

"Should we go check on them?" Violet asked.

The blonde Gunner shook her head. "N-no, they're not..."

"Oh, she got back down," Ribbon noted. The silhouette of the first girl seemed to lie back down besides the second girl, but for some reason, it looked more as if she was on top of the...

...Ribbon's face turned pink.

"Uh... w-wait..." She turned to Frederica. "A-are they...?"

Shamefully, without words, Frederica nodded and covered her face. "Y-yeah... Raquna's... still drunk..."

Rin frowned. "Wait, what? What's going on?" she asked and took another look at the tent's silhouette. Raquna's silhouette was lying on top of Freya the Highlander's silhouette, their faces supposedly connected, their arms supposedly wrapped around one another. "...boy, silhouettes these days sure could give the wrong impressions," the Medic muttered, her face turning slightly red.

Violet blinked. "No, you've got the right idea."

The Medic blinked. Then she looked again. Then her face turned redder. "W-w-w-what... M-Ms. Raquna and Ms. Freya... t-they were like _that!?_" she hissed.

"Sshhh!" the other three girls hushed her.

Remilia took a sip from a makeshift cup of water, made from a sliced bamboo stick. _Whatever,_ she thought.


	16. Meeting Up With the Group

"So, um... l-let me get this straight," Ribbon said, "you were just drunk, and she was just drunk, and you both just... decided to act like wild animals and fuck each other after waking up," she said.

Raquna, slightly red-faced, nodded as she tried to ignore the others' stares, whilst Freya the Highlander, sitting nearby, covered her face in shame. "Sssssomething like that... yeah... mind your language though."

"Didn't sound like you were drunk when you started touching her last night..." Frederica mumbled, sounding a bit irritated and... spiteful?

Of course, Remilia noticed that, but decided she didn't really want to get mixed into this strange business.

Meanwhile, Ribbon heard that uttered line and whipped her head back to Raquna. "S-so you _weren't_ drunk after all! Y-you shameless pervert!"

"H-hey, give me a break!" Raquna said. "You try being near this hot sexy hunk of a lady! She's a damn fine girl I tell you!" the red haired Protector said. Next to Remilia, Freya sank deeper in her hands, her face practically burning, the Hexer patting her back out of... well, just being a respectful acquaintance, really.

Ribbon's face, meanwhile, turned almost as red as the Highlander's. "W-what the hell are you saying here!?"

Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Next to the blonde protector, her rival bakery girl Violet nodded. "Gonna have to give it to her here, Ribbon. Temptation is evil, can't exactly easily resist a hot girl there."

"W-what the hell are _you_ saying now, Violet!" Ribbon yelled. "This isn't the time for your weird crap!"

"Not my fault I understand how she feels," Violet said.

This caught Ribbon off guard. "Y-you what!?"

Raquna smiled and nodded approvingly at the violet haired girl. "That girl gets it!"

"Gets what!?" Ribbon screamed.

Meanwhile, Rin walked over to Remilia and sat next to her, opposite to where Freya was seated, still shamefully covering her face. "What is even going on here...?" the Medic asked herself rhetorically, but loud enough to get her teammate's attention.

The Hexer shrugged. "Mmn. Dunno."

"Seems like they're all so... carefree now," Rin said. Then, as Remilia took a sip out of a makeshift bamboo cup, she sighed. "Aaaaand you're just as non-caring about this as always."

Remilia blinked. "...not my business." She looked back to where Raquna and Violet were joining forces in teasing Ribbon, who grew redder every second. "...weird ones."

"...weird?" Rin asked. "What's... weird about them?"

"...hnnrn." The Hexer shook her head. "Whatever."

Rin stared. "...uh, okay." She then looked back at the scene unfolding before her eyes as well. _...maybe she doesn't understand what romance is?_ The girl blinked, recalling how the Hexer didn't quite understand anyone's teasing at their growing closeness. She then looked back at Remilia, who was already taking another sip of water. _...nah, that can't be it. That's stupid. You're stupid, Rin._

They then heard footsteps approaching them, but before the two could prepare their weapons in case of enemies appearing, a male voice spoke up.

"Oh, I see we have guests here," Simon said.

"Oh, wow! How'd you all get this far? That's wild!" Arthur exclaimed.

Everyone paused what they were doing to look at the duo. "Oh, welcome back!" Raquna greeted.

"Hey, Raquna!" Arthur greeted and turned to others. "Hey Freya! Hey Frederica! Hi Rin! And Remilia! And... uh... new faces!"

"Ribbon," the blonde Protector simply said. "And this idiot's Violet."

"Wadduuup?" Violet said, earning an odd look from Ribbon. "...it's cool kids language."

Arthur grinned. "Hey, this girl gets it. I like her already."

Ribbon blinked. "W-what?"

"What?"

"N-nothing."

Simon rolled his eyes. "The more people I meet in this city, the weirder everything gets."

"Who're you calling weird!?" Ribbon exclaimed.

Sighing, Simon turned to Frederica. "How're you doing, Frederica?"

"I'm... feeling fine, thank you," the gun-wielder replied. "How did your business go?"

Arthur took out a rolled up sheet, spreading it open to show the others. "Right, so we've sort of mapped out the layout of the Wyvern's territory. ...room. ...place. ...area? ...chamber..."

Simon groaned. "They get it, Arthur."

"No, no, wait... the Wyvern's... _secret_ chamber..." Arthur quickly said.

"It's not really secret if there's a door leading directly to it," Raquna pointed out.

"Let a man dream," the Alchemist said.

Ribbon rolled her eyes. "More like a kid."

"I heard that!"

"B-but wow, that's... huge for a nest," Rin said.

Remilia nodded in agreement, then rubbed her chin. "...no attacks?"

Arthur turned to her. "Sometimes it shoots these... huge ass beams, if it thinks you're near it or something. There was lots of running involved!" he said. "...and screaming. Mostly on Simon's part."

"I seem to recall you screaming a lot, something about bad decisions being made?" Simon asked.

"Hey, come on! Take the blame for me!"

Another collective round of sighs, mixed with few amused chuckles.

* * *

Two girls swung their sword and axe around as they cleared the path. Small insects and birds flew away from the small commotion, but asides from that, no other beasts seemed to be around. Following behind timidly, the young and less experienced Protectors looked around nervously.

"I- I still think we shouldn't be here..." Robin whispered.

Valeria laughed. "Nonsense. It's perfectly safe and sound here!"

As if fate itself was laughing at her words, a plant monster jumped out of a nearby shrub. Robin let out a squeak as Aquiea jumped in front of him, her giant shield ready to reflect an attack.

Instinctively, Scarlet swung her axe at the lump of vines. A handful of its tentacles were sliced off cleanly, resulting in it delivering a fierce cry at the group, its maws opening wide to bite. Valeria quickly stuck her arm- and sword- through its mouth, piecing through the main body and watching as the monster drooped on her hand, dead.

"...you were saying?" Aquiea asked.

Valeria shrugged. "I stand by my words."

Groaning, the blue haired girl looked back at her rival store's son. "Stop cowering, geez. We're already here, we might as well as do our best."

"B-but this is still too high leveled for us..." the blonde said.

"You're a man, aren't you?" the bluenette said. "Get up and at least try. Even your sister would be sickened."

Robin sighed. "...a-alright..."

"That's the spirit!" Valeria chirped.

Scarlet groaned. "You're going to get bitten in the ass one day, Valeria..."

The four then proceeded to head towards a passage they saw from afar, leading down to the eighth floor.

Coming to a stop, they looked around to prepare for any ambush.

"...do you feel that?" Scarlet whispered.

"Something... there's something big on this floor..." Valeria muttered. The brunette looked back to their two escorts. "How're you two kiddos holding up?"

"We're already slightly younger than you!" Aquiea hissed, but then looked around. "Everything seems fine... but I feel it too. Something really dangerous is on this floor."

Robin quivered. "T-then shouldn't we seriously head back? We could d-die..." he said, and turned to Scarlet. "Ms. Scarlet, are you... sure the others could be on this floor?"

The redhead shrugged. "Hey, we haven't encountered them on the last two floors. If they're not here as well, they have to be further ahead."

"O-oh come on..."

"Stop your whining," Aquiea said. "We're been fine this entire time, haven't we?"

"Y-yeah, but-"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Valeria exclaimed and wrapped an arm around the bluenette, who yelped in surprise. "This girl's got guts! Scarl, I like this girl. Let's have her join us officially!"

Aquiea sent her a stare of disbelief. "What? Hell no!"

Scarlet sighed. "Yeah, don't just randomly toss that sort of demand onto people, Val." Turning to Aquiea, she offered a smile. "Sorry about that, Ganges. I'm sure you wouldn't want to join a mess of a guild like ours."

Robin gulped. "T-that'd be a great honor though..."

"Well, yeah, it would," Aquiea said, "but I have other dreams, you know. I want to form my own guild and become big."

"Well, that's not too hard to do," Valeria said. "Just look at us: me, Scarlet and Rin all wanted to-"

"Easy for you to say," the bluenette said. "It's not like I could just blindly grab some adults to form a guild with me."

Scarlet nodded. "Yeah, she's right, Val. We were just lucky Remilia met us first before anyone else."

The brunette pouted. "Bah, whatever. It's still totally not too hard to do..."

* * *

Remilia finished the last of her water as she observed the camping group bicker about... something. Something she didn't really care for, something about Raquna's earlier shtick with Freya. She put her bamboo cup down besides her and got up.

"Remilia?" Rin asked.

"...should get going," the Hexer said.

"Eh, you're going already?" Ribbon asked. "I thought we should-"

"It's okay," the Hexer said and put a hand on the Protector's shoulder, keeping her seated. "Going deeper."

Rin blinked. "Oh, so we're just... huh!?" The Medic got up and sent her leader a confused look. "W-what do you mean, we're going deeper!?"

Violet whistled. "There goes the bomb."

At that, Frederica raised her hand. "Bomb?"

The Protector raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, it's just a saying. You know. Cool kids language."

"Cool kids my ass," Ribbon muttered.

Back to the other two, Rin grabbed Remilia's hand. "What the heck are you saying, Remilia!? It's dangerous!"

"We've healed," Remilia simply said. "Should be fine."

"I'm not quite sure about that," Simon interrupted. "Me and Arthur have been exploring this floor for some time- other than the stairs back to the seventh floor, and the door to the Wyvern's lair, there's really no other place you can explore without running into a dead end."

"Or that weird door with the floating crystal," Arthur said.

Nodding, the male Medic looked back at the Hexer. "The only way you might find any path to the next floor would be if you somehow safely explore the Wyvern's nest, and find a passage somewhere. And I'm definitely not-"

"Copied your map," Remilia said and handed the drawn layout of the Wyvern's nest back to the man.

Simon blinked. "What the..."

"Holy crapfizzles! Was that magic?" Arthur exclaimed. "That was amazing! Remrem, what the fizzlesticks!"

Ribbon stared at him. "What the hell are you even saying?"

"Oh, just something their friend Valeria had been teaching me," Arthur said. "She taught me all sorts of funny words some time ago!"

"Remind me to ask her about that later..." Raquna muttered.

Rin cleared her throat to get their attention again, then looked at Remilia. "A-anyways, I think it's too dangerous. Besides, shouldn't we... like, go get Valeria and Scarlet first?"

Remilia nodded. "Mmn. They're coming."

The orange haired girl blinked. "...what?"

"Valeria and Scarlet. Coming right now."

"B-but... w-whaaaaat!?" Rin yelled.

"Shhh! Careful!" Frederica hissed.

"S-sorry!" the Medic squeaked, then looked back again at her guild leader. "B-but Remilia! How would you even know that!?"

"Not important," the Hexer said. "Curious about someone."

Violet tilted her head. "You're looking for someone?"

Remilia nodded. "Other day... samurai girl."

"Samurai girl...? Oh, the Ronin we met the last time we came here?" Rin asked. "You're looking for her?"

She nodded again. "Lives in jungle. Somewhere here... need to ask questions."

"By that, are you perhaps talking about the Ronin who defends the monsters in the labyrinth?" Simon asked. All heads turned to him, two in particular nodding. "Then I believe you're right in pursuing forwards, then."

"Oh, that cool girl!" Arthur exclaimed. "She appeared out of nowhere just as we were returning here! Said that we shouldn't disturb the Wyvern unless we want to be punished by its wrath."

"Punishment, huh... sounds nice right now..." Raquna whispered and glanced at Freya, before shaking her head. "I mean, uh, what now?"

"The Ronin girl," Simon said. "Remember? We also met her yesterday while coming here for the five-day challenge quest."

"O-ohhh, right, that girl!" Raquna said in feigned recognition. "Yeah, I remember her!"

Before Simon could call her out, Frederica spoke up, worried. "But she seems to be hostile against those who fights the jungle's monsters, right?" the blonde said. "Then... isn't it better we try to avoid her?"

"Could," Remilia said. "...but no need."

"Seems like she wants trouble," Ribbon muttered. "Well, from what I've heard, it doesn't seem like this girl would kill you if you leave her... animal friends alone. I don't see a problem with that, then."

Rin gulped. "B-but... I don't know about this..."

"Hey! Look who it is!" a new voice interrupted the group again. They turned to see yet another familiar group of explorers.

"Robin!" Ribbon exclaimed.

"Violet!" Aquiea exclaimed.

"Valeria! Scarlet!" Rin exclaimed.

"Rin! Remilia!" Scarlet exclaimed.

Valeria, meanwhile, ran towards Remilia. "Remremmmm!" she chimed and pounced her

"H-huh."

The others watched as Valeria wrapped an arm around the Hexer, the latter's expression dissolving into that of annoyance. "You rascal! Diving into the labyrinth without us! Never thought you'd have the guts!"

"...annoying," Remilia muttered, to the slight surprise of virtually everyone else except the brunette plaguing her.

"You know you love me, ya little goof!" Valeria grinned, then looked at the others. "So what's the situation here?"

"...w-we were just about to continue exploring the jungle," Rin said. "This room has a healing spring, just over there, that you can bathe in and rest," she explained and pointed another direction. "Since me and Re... since Remilia and I have both done that, Remilia was thinking of getting past the Wyvern's nest..."

"The what!?" Scarlet almost screamed. "That's crazy! Remiia, what the hell?"

"...got map," Remilia said and showed her copy of Simon's map, slightly irking the man himself. "...can plan."

"Oooh. Well, good thinking, I guess," Scarlet said. "But, uh... would you mind if we rest some more? Me and Valeria are tired from the whole jungle."

Rin chuckled. "Yeah, I think that'd be best for all of us too. Right, Remilia?"

The Hexer sighed, defeated. She sat back down. "...mn. Okay."

Beaming with joy, Valeria pounced her again. "Best boss ever!"

"...annoying."


End file.
